
Lb^i^:^^-^,^.sj2sj:.^ 



HISTORY 



OF 



TAZEWELL COUNTY 



AND 



SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA 
1748-1920 



BY 
WM. C. PENDLETON 



With Illustralions 



1920 

W. C. Hill Printing Company 

Richmond, Va. 






Copyright, 1920, 
By William C. Pendleton 



DEC -3 192-0 



©C(.A601791 



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DEDICATED 

To the memory of my. beloved son 
James French Pendleton 

He ivas pure in heart, faithful in service, and 
the embodiment of truth 







"W^C^^ Lv., fP^.^>«hami|/ 



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Executive Committee, Tazewell Historical Society, 
A. St.Clair, President. 




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Executive Committee, Tazewell Historical Society, 
Jno. S. Bottimore, Secretary. 



PREFACE 



When I was first requested by certain gentlemen, wlio are 
descendants of the pioneer settlers of the Clinch Valley, to write 
a history of Tazewell Countj^, it was intended to be a purely local 
history. But, after giving the proposition careful deliberation, 
1 conceived the scheme which has made it a history of the Settle- 
ment, Development, and Civilization of Southwest Virginia, with 
Tazewell County as the central figure. The reason for the adoption 
of this plan will be obvious to every person who is sufficiently 
interested to read the volume, for the histor}" of the entire South- 
west Virginia, Tazewell Count}' included, is. practically, identical. 
And their history is intimately identified with that of Virginia and 
of the Nation, as the people who have lived in this region have had 
much to do with forming and developing the political thought and 
social character of the State and Nation. In executing this plan, 
I have separated the book into six distinctly marked Periods, and 
they are as follows: 

1. The Aboriginal Period, which is devoted to that branch of the 
human family that occupied or roamed over this section of the 
continent before men of the white race came here to make their 
homes. And in this Period the origin of the American Indians, 
together with their social organizations, tribal relations, religious 
characteristics, et cet., are discussed. 

2. The Period of Discover}' and Colonization, in which the 
Spanish Discoveries and Conquests, the French Discoveries and 
Settlements, and the English Discoveries and the Settlement at 
Jamestown in 1607, are concisely narrated. 

3. The Pioneer Period. This is the most extended Period of 
the book; and is used to tell who the pioneers were, from whence 
they came, how they got here, and how they wrought mightily to 
reclaim this wonderful country from a wilderness waste. The 
Period begins with the first settlements made west of the Blue Ridge 
Mountains in 1732, and terminates with the creation of Tazewell 
County in 1799, thus comprising the settlements made in the Shen- 
andoah, Roanoke, New River, Holston, and Clinch valleys, and 
Kentucky. 



X 



P R E F A C E 



4. The Ante-JJtIlum, or Formative, Period, which begins with 
tlie organization of Tazewell County in 1800, and concludes with 
the commencement of the Civil War in 18G1. Of the various events 
mentioned in tliis Period, the one which treats of the forming and 
developing of the political, social, and industrial tliouglit and char- 
acter of tlie people is, possibly, the most interesting. 

5. The War and Reconstruction Period, wliicli embraces tlie 
eventful years 1861-1869. In this Period I relate and discuss the 
potential causes tliat provoked the Civil War. Detailed accounts 
of the four raids made by Federal soldiers into and through Taze- 
well County, and the battles these raids occasioned, are herein 
written into liistory for the first time. 

6. The Post-Bellum. or Development, Period tells, in brief form, 
about the immense development of the mineral, agricultural, and 
otlier natural resources of Tazewell County and adjacent sections 
of Soutliwest Virginia and Soutliern West Virginia. 

In ^prosecuting this work my chief aim has been directed to 
gathering and preserving, in the form of written history, many 
interesting events connected with the performances of the pioneer 
settlers of the Clinch Valley and Southwest Virginia, that have 
been handed down by reasonable tradition, or are to be found in 
authentic records. But I have found it very difficult to select from 
the great mass of available material only that which I deemed the 
most important and essential for the proper accomplishment of my 
task. To that end. I have earnestly examined the records of Taze- 
well Countv, and of other counties with wliich Tazewell was civilly 
connected before it was organized as a distinct county. I lia\e also 
acquired many facts from the valuable archives, of manuscript or 
printed form, tliat are deposited in the Virginia State Library, and 
have carefully studied many local and general histories that are 
recognized as reliable sources of information. 

My cordial thanks are due, and are hereby given, to the Presi- 
dent and Secretary, and to the Executive Committee of the Taze- 
well Historical Society; and to the following named gentlemen, 
who became my financial backers and made it possible to procure 
the publication of my manuscript in Ixwk form : 

S. C. Graham, A. St.Clair, R. O. Crockett. .T. W. Cliapman, 
W. T. Tliompson, Jno. S. Bottimore. Jno. P. Gose. R. jM. Lawson, 
H. P. Brittain, H. G. McCall, H. G. Peerv, Chas. R. Brown, 



PREFACE xi 

Wm. E. Peery, A. S. Higginbothara, W. O. Barns, W. T. Gillespie, 
Geo. R. McCall, G. S. Thompson, A. S. Greever, Barnes Gillespie, 
E. L. Greever, C. H. Peery, J. D. Peery, Henry A. Bowen, Henry 
S. Bowen, J. Ed. Peery, R. C. Chapman, C. B. Neel, Jeff Ward, 
A. G. Riser, J. A. Greever, H. W. Pobst, O. E. Hopkins, C. P. 
Harman, B. I. Payne, Jno. H. Thompson, J. G. Barns, W. R. 
Bowen. S. S. F. Harman, M. J. Hankins. 

I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to certain gentlemen 
who have given me valuable assistance, in various ways, in the 
prosecution of my work — Mr. E. G. Swem, who was for years and 
until recently tlie popular and most capable Assistant Librarian of 
the Virginia State Library, and Mr. Morgan P. Robinson, the 
l^olite and efficient Archivist of the Library. These two gentlemen 
responded so generously to every call I made upon them for assist- 
ance or information, tliat I can hardly estimate the extent of my 
obligation to them. 

I am also heavily indebted to Messrs. H. P. Brittain, County 
Treasurer; A. S. Greever, Superintendent of County Schools; S. 
M. Graham, A. St.Clair, C. H. Peery and Jno. S. Bottimore for 
helping to gather material used in mv work; and to Messrs. W. O. 
Barns, Wm. E. Peery and Henry A. Bowen for special substantial 
favors. 

The history has been arranged in as nearly chronological order 
as it was possible for me to jilace it. It is hardly necessary for 
me to say that it has been truly a labor of love to write about the 
deeds and accomplishments of the splendid men and women who 
were the pioneer settlers of the Clinch Valley and other sections 
of Soutliwest Virginia. And it has been a pleasant task to compile 
and relate the waj's and means that have been used by their descend- 
ants and successors to bring this section of Virginia to its present 
social and industrial high position. My earnest hope and desire 
is, that its people shall continue to advance on 'these lines until 
they have attained the most exalted stage of Cliristian civilization 
and human freedom. 

Wm. C. Pendleton. 
J2ine 1st, 1920. 



Note — The book has been j^ublished under very trying circum- 
stances, produced, in the main, by unsettled labor conditions. Tliis 



xii PREFACE 

has not only occasioned delay in gettinj;' tlie history ready for publi- 
cation, but is, possibly, responsible for most of the typographical 
and mechanical errors that appear on its pages. These will be 
easily detected and corrected by the careful and intelligent reader. 
There is, however, one error in a date to whieli special attention 
is called. It occurs in the sketch of Captain Henry Bowen, Taze- 
well's most distinguished son, on page 636. He was born December 
26th, 1811, and not in "1815" as appears in the sketch. The lines 
that immediately follow the incorrect date in the sketch fully expose 
and correct the error. 



CONTENTS 



ABORIGINAL PERIOD. 

Page 

I. Origin of the Red men; their distribution, civilization, 

character, etc. 3-14 

II. Nations and tribes north of Mexico 15-57 

III. The Indians; their civilization, government, manners, and 

religion - 58-69 

PERIOD OF DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION. 
I. Spanish and French discoveries and conquests - - - 73-84 

II. French discoveries and settlements 85-98 

III. Birth of American Nation — English Settlement at James- 
town - -- - 99-129 

IV. From death of James I to 1676.-.- -- - 130-137 

V. Bacon's Rebellion and discovery of Shenandoah Valley — 138-151 

PIONEER PERIOD. 

I. Settlement of Shenandoah and Roanoke Valleys - 155-170 

II. The Walker and Gist expeditions 171-185 

III. French and Indian war -- - - -186-203 

IV. Drapers Meadows Massacre and other Tragic Incidents. .-204-217 

V. Holston Valley invaded by Indians — The Sandy expedi- 

tion - --- - 218-223 

VI. Why settlements delayed in Clinch Valley- -- 224-230 

VII. The Tazewell Pioneer settlers- - 231-270 

VIII. Frontiers of Fincastle County invaded by Indians - 271-289 

IX. Fincastle men called for Ohio expedition — Indians invade 

Clinch and Holston settlements—- - -- 290-310 

X. Battle of Point Pleasant — Kentucky opened for settle- 
ment ----- - 311-334 

XI. The Revolutionary War- --- 335-352 

XII. First Constitutional Convention — Declares United Col- 
onies free and independent States — Declaration of 
Rights and Constitution adopted -- - 353-360 

XIII. Kentucky, Washington and Montgomery counties are 

formed - - 361-369 

XIV. Clark's expedition to Illinois, and Battle of King's Moun- 

tain -- 370-397 



xiv CONTENTS 

APPENDICES— PIONEER PERIOD. 

Page 

A— Sketches of Pioneer Families - - -401-433 

B — Massacres by Indians - 434-468 

ANTE-BELLUM, OR FORMATIVE, PERIOD. 

I. Organization of Tazewell County 471-485 

II. Boundries and Topography of Tazewell County 486-495 

III. Interesting- sections of county — The head of Clinch 

Valley 496-516 

IV. Development of political, social, and industrial character 

of its people - - - 517-529 

V. The roads of Tazewell County — Growth in population 

and wealth, etc - 530-546 

VI. The origin and descent of Tazewell County 547-560 

WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD. 

1. Principal causes of the Civil War 563-598 

II. The Harper's Ferry Insurrection - — - -585-592 

III. The Presidental election of 1860 - - 593-598 

IV. Virginia holds convention and secedes from Union 599-605 

V. What Tazewell did in the war 606-637 

Appendix to War and Reconsti-uction Period 638-654 

POST BELLUM, OR DEVELOPMENT, PERIOD. 

I. County recovers from effects of Civil War 657-664 

II. Piosperity returns to Tazewell County.- - 665-672 

Appendix — List of m.en from Tazewell County in World 

War 1914 — ai-my and navy 673-684 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 
Osceola, Indian Chief 

Sequoya, Chei'okee Indian -.- "'" 

Tecumseh, Shawnee Chief-.. 

• Plum Creek Valley, Tazewell County, Va ."...7 55 

Jamestown Tower 

Site of Thomas Witten's Cabin...- ------ 

Campbell House at Royal Oak 2qfi 

Thomas Witten's Fort.r. " ttlr' 

John Witten's Cabin. 

William Wynne's Fort 2^q 

Rees Bcwen Homestead-.. " ^f.„ 

Statue of General Andrew Lewis 3Qg 

Old Powder Magazine at Williamburg. 35^ 

"Colonel Wilkinson Witten ,^0 

Samuel Cecil "' ' J^^ 

Rees T. Bowen.. "" """ fl 

William Moore. ZZZZ '""' 415 

Oscar Moore, Jr., on "Rose" ..^ 

Major David Peery "" ' ,7^ 

*^ — . 419 

Residence of Major Harvey George Peery....... ' 42i 

Residence of Major David Peery "" 433 

Colonel Archibald Thompson.. 425 

First Brick House Erected in Tazewell County 43I 

Site of Major John Taylor's Cabin-.... .on 

Apple Tree in Abb's Valley 1^. 

Rock Under Which Martha Evans Hid. 453 

Squire Thomas Peery and Son. .gg 

Colonel Henry Bowen . „ 

First Plat of Town of Tazewell, Va.. ' """ " 474 

Court House at Tazewell, Va... '" " " '" ^g^ 

Residence of Colonel Wilk Witten 49. 

Residence of Samuel Cecil " .q„ 

Mill in Plum Creek Gap.. "" '" ^^^ 

Grounds of Tazewell County Fair Association Z^'Z' 497 

Tov/n of Tazewell, Section L. ^gg 

To\\Ti of Tazewell, Section II '" .qq 

Gap at Burke's Garden ' 5O2 

Rev. John J. Greever g^o 

Floyd Estate in Burke's Garden Z'ZZ 505 

Site of James Burke's Cabin... cinfl 

Colonel Peter Litz- - "" " ""■■ " Tl^ 



^^.- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page 



,, ^ 508 

Captain George G. Gose --- ^^^ 

Major Otis Cakhvell 

Charles Fitzgerald Tii^'any - - 

Walnut Log from Tazewell County, Va.-- - ^^^ 

Loom and Wheels ^^^ 

Plum Creek Gap 

Residence of Colonel Harvey George --- - - -- ^^^ 

"Hubble Hill" ^gg 

Main Street, Tazewell, Va.-- - - " 

Dorset Lambs from Tazewell County, Va.--- • »^^ 

John Warfield Johnston - " ^^^ 

High School at Tazewell, Va - 

Major Rufus Brittain--- ^^^ 

William P. Cecil 

, , „ 1 bUU 

Judge Samuel L. Graham - -- ^^^ 

Captain William E. Peery -- - - 

Walnut Tree at Wm. E. Peery's -- ^^^ 

Captain Charles A. Fudge - - - — - " ■ 

Dr. John S. Pendleton and Wm. C. Pendleton - - "^^ 

Home of Mrs. Henry S. Bowen - - ■• 

Colonel Andrew J. May ^^^ 

Captain David G. Savers -■ ^^^ 

Major Thomas P. Bowen -- - - - - 

Colonel William L. Graham ^^^ 

Colonel Robert Smith - - - - 

„ oob 

Captam Henry Bowen ^^^ 

Colonel Joseph Harrison - - 

Colonel Titus V. Williams " ^^^ 

Colonel Edwin Houston Harman— - 

Captain D. B. Baldwin- ^^^ 

Captain John H. Whitley - - " ■ 

Captain Jonathan Hankms - - ^^^ 

Captain James S. Peery - - - " ^^^ 

Captain A. J. Tynes- - ^^^ 

Captain John Thom.pson ^^^ 

Captain James P. Whitman ■ ■ 

-- Residence of Thomas Witten, third ^^^ 

Doctor George Ben Johnston - 

Doctor Samuel Cecil Bowen -- ^^^ 

"An Old Virginia Road" 



The Aboriginal Period 



Which Treats of the Origin of the American 

Indians, their Forms of Government, 

Civilization, Religion, etc. 



History of Tazewell County and 
Southwest Virginia 

ABORIGINAL PERIOD 



CHAPTER I. 



ORIGIN OF THE RED MEN, THEIR DISTRIBUTION, 
CIVILIZATION, CHARACTER, ETC. 

There is one thing connected with the discovery of America 
which has been settled beyond dispute by historians ; and that is 
that the American aborigines received their name from Christopher 
Columbus. When the great navigator started out from Palos with 
his three little ships^ manned with one hundred and twenty men, his 
main purpose was to travel to India by sailing a westward course. 
After a trying and thrilling voyage of seventy-one days, on the 12th 
of October, 1192, Columbus landed on one of the Bahamas, took 
possession of the island for Spain, and named it San Salvador. 
He there found a tribe of natives whom he called Indians, believ- 
ing he had reached the shores of the Asiatic Continent and had 
landed upon the eastern coast of India. 

Much has been surmised and a vast deal written about the origin 
of the Red Men who were the primitive inhabitants of the American 
Continent. All historians have agreed that they are one of the 
older races of mankind, but whether they are indigenous to this 
continent, or are the descendants of an Asiatic race is still not 
only a matter of dispute but seems likely to remain for all future 
time an unsolved problem. 

Some of the most profound and ardent students of mankind 
have confidently asserted that the American Indians are a distinct 
variety of the human race. Among these are Blumenbach, the 
eminent German naturalist, and Samuel George Morton, the dis- 
tinguished American ethnologist. On the other hand quite a number 
of able and celebrated ethnologists, philologists and anthropologists 
have asserted with equal positiveness that the Indians of both 
North and South America are descendants of the Mongolian family 
and came here from Asia. But when they reached this continent 
or by what route they traveled is completely enveloped in mystery. 

[3] 



4 History of Tazewell County 

Dr. Robert Brown, wlio lias been regarded as one of the most aecom- 
plished, as he is one of the latest writers on the subject, in his 
"Races of Mankind" expresses firm conviction that the American 
race is of Asiatic origin. He sa3's: 

"Not only are the Western Indians in appearance very like 
their nearest neighbors, the Northeastern Asiatics, but in language 
and tradition, it is confidently affirmed there is a blending of the 
people. The Eskimo, on the American, and tlic Tchuktcliis, on 
the Asiatic side understand each other perfectly." 

Modern anthropologists, who uphold the tlieory of Asiatic 
origin, are of opinion that the ancestors of the greater part of the 
American race came here from Japan, the Kuriles and the regions 
thereabout. Baron Humboldt, one of the greatest scientists the 
world has ever produced, after traveling extensively in South 
America, Mexico, Cuba and parts of the United States, said this 
about the aboriginal inhabitants: 

"The Indians of New Spain bear a general resemblance to those 
who inhabit Canada, Florida, Peru and Brazil. We think we per- 
ceive them all to be descended from the same stock, notwithstanding 
the prodigious diversity of their languages. In a portrait drawn 
by Volney of the Canadians we recognize the tribe scattered over 
the Savannahs of the Apure and the Caroney. The same style of 
features exists in both Americas." 

It is a notable fact that tlie Mongolian cast of feature is most 
pronounced in the Indian tribes nearest the Mongol coasts, that is 
on our Pacific coast; and becomes less distinct as we trace the 
tribes eastward to the shores of the Atlantic. And it is a generally 
accepted historic fact that the tribes on the eastern seaboard gave 
as one of their traditions that their ancestors came from the West, 
while the Western tribes claimed that their progenitors came from 
regions still further West. Though there were at the period about 
which Humboldt was writing hundreds of tribes among the American 
Indians, all of them bore a striking similarity of physical structure, 
personal characteristics, and languages. This similarity of lan- 
guages led Albert Gallatin to say: 

"Amidst that great diversity of American languages, considered 
only in reference to their voc^abularies. the similarity of their struc- 



and Southwest Virginia 5 

ture and grammatical forms has been observed and pointed out by 
the American philologists. The result api)ears to confirm the 
opinions already entertained by Ponceau^ Mr. Pickering and others; 
and to prove that all the languages, not only of our own Indians, 
l)ut of the native inhabitants of America, from the Arctic Ocean to 
Cape Horn, have, as far as they have been investigated, a distinct 
character common to all, and apparently differing from any of those 
of the other continents with which we are most familiar." 

That all the Indians of both American continents were of 
common origin is indicated not only by similarity of the structure 
and grammatical forms of tlieir languages, but by the strong 
resemblance of their physical characteristics. These have been 
described as follows : 

"A square head, with low but broad forehead, the back of the 
head flattened, full face and powerful jaws; cheek-bones prominent, 
lips full, eyes dark and deeply set; the hair long, not absolutely 
straight, but wavy, something like a horse's mane, and like that, of a 
glossy hue; little or no beard, where it does appear carefully eradi- 
cated with tweezers ; color of the skin reddish or copper, height of 
the men about the average, but looking taller from tlieir erect pos- 
ture and slender figure; the women rather shorter and more inclined 
to obesity, but many of tliem with symmetrical figure and pleasing 
countenance; liands and feet of both men and women small." 

Though the learned men who have carefully studied and investi- 
gated the aborigines of America have differed sharply as to how 
this peculiar race originated, some holding that it was indigenous 
and others that it was of Mongolian descent, all such ethnologists 
and philologists have agreed that it had a common origin. Therefore 
it has been a matter of surprise to those who have been interested 
investigators of its history to find that but three of the many nations 
of the American race had attained any considerable degree of civil- 
ization when they first became known to 'the white men. 

When Hernando Cortes, in 1519, with his cruelly avaricious 
but desperately courageous band of Spaniards, invaded Mexico, he 
found there a large and intelligent nation, ruled over by an emperor, 
living in walled cities, with sumj^tuous residences, splendid palaces, 
and magnificent temples. This jjeoplc, called the Aztecs, had a 
code of fixed laws, and were skilled in some of the arts and sciences, 



6 History of Tazewell County 

especially asti-onomy. They were excellent argiculturists, engaged 
extensively in mining the precious metals, and exhibited mucli skill 
in the manufacture of both useful and ornamental articles. His- 
torians, from what they deem satisfactory record and traditional 
evidence, affirm that the Aztecs wandered into Mexico in the twelftli 
century, and succeeded the Toltecs, another tribe of the mysterious 
American race. The Toltecs are said to have entered Mexico in tlie 
seventh century. Both of these tribes or families had come from 
the same hive in the North, just as the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, 
successively, journeyed from Scandinavia and ultimately landed in 
England. 

The Toltecs, the predecessors of the Aztecs, judging from the 
monuments and other indicia the}' left beliind them in Mexico, and 
the immense architectural remains of the temples they built in 
Central America, were more advanced in civilization than were their 
successors, the Aztecs. 

The Toltecs were so skilled in architecture that the name Toltec 
has been pronounced the synonym of architect. They were skillful 
agriculturists and introduced maize and cotton into Mexico. In 
making record of events they used hieroglyphics, and left ample 
monuments to prove that they were skilled in the arts and sciences. 
They knew how to fuse metals, to cut and polish the hardest stones, 
to manufacture earthenware, and weave many kinds of fabrics. It 
is an astonishing fact that they had knowledge of the causes of 
eclipses, made wonderful sun-dials, had a simple system of notation, 
and measured time by a solar year of 365 days. The Toltecs were 
a people of a gentle, peaceful disposition, but very industrious and 
enterprising. Their laws were simple but justly administered, and 
their religion was of a mild form. Why and when they left Mexico 
has not been definitely settled; but it seems certain that they 
migrated to Central America, perhaps impelled by the nomadic 
instincts inherited from their Asiatic progenitors. 

In the matter of religion the Aztecs were very much fiercer and 
more barbarous in their practices than their predecessors, the 
Toltecs. They believed in one supreme creator and ruler of the 
miiverse, but this sublime faith was strangely mingled with a belief 
that hundreds of inferior divinities existed under the control of the 
supreme divinity. Not only were the Aztecs heathenisli, but they 
\\ere cannibalistic in the practice of their religious ceremonies; and 
they were the only family of the American race who offered up 



and Southwest Virginia 7 

human sacrifices. It is related by historians that in the immediate 
years preceding the Spanish invasion and conquest of Mexico, the 
Aztecs sacrificed twenty thousand human beings annually upon 
their altars. The sacrificial ceremonies were performed by their 
priests on the summits of their temples, and in the presence of vast 
throngs of worshipers. A victim was bound to the sacrificial stone, 
the breast was cut open and the heai-t torn out. This vital organ 
of the human sacrifice was either placed before an image of their 
gods, or, after being cut into small pieces and mingled with maiz, 
was distributed to the assembled worshipers to eat. It was a kind 
of sacramental ceremony. This strange admixture of a high con- 
ception of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and a sanguinary 
superstition which induced them to sacrifice human beings to their 
plural gods puts the Aztecs in a distinct class among the numerous 
tribes of the American race called Indians. 

THE CONQUEST OF PERU BY PIZARRO. 

Peru, now one of tlie Latin Republics of South America, was 
enjoying its second phase of civilization when Francisco Pizarro, 
the Spanish adventurer, in 1531, invaded that country with his 
reckless band of freebooters. There were only one hundred and 
eighty men in his expeditionary force, of whom twenty-seven were 
cavalry. Pizarro had been incited to make the daring attempt to 
conquer a native empire from knowledge of what Cortes had accom- 
plished in Mexico. He had accompanied Balboa when he crossed 
the Isthmus of Panama in 1513, and was with that cavalier when 
he first viewed from a mountain top the great ocean which he named 
the South Sea, but which Magellan a few years later called the 
Pacific. Pizarro's ambition had also been greatly excited by rumors 
that came to him of a wonderful country still further South, where 
silver and gold were found in as great abundance as iron in Spain. 
Inspired by these reports, with a small company of followers, he 
made a visit to Peru in 1526 for the purpose of spying out that 
country; and had returned to Panama with satisfactory evidence 
that the immense wealth of the land in precious metals had not been 
exaggerated. The generous natives, who had never seen a white 
man until Pizzarro and his companions visited them in an assumed 
friendly way, gave him valuable and beautiful ornaments made from 
gold and silver; and also liberal specimens of fine cloth, of brilliant 



8 History of Tazewell County 

hue, made from the wool of llamas and alpacas. Very soon after 
this visit of discovery Pizarro traveled to Spain and exhibited these 
sjiecimcns to Charles V. and his ministers; and revealed to them 
what he had seen of the enormous wealth in the land of the Incas. 
The Spanish monarch and Iiis court were so deeply impressed witli 
the glowing representations of Pizarro, he was invested with num- 
erous honorable titles, among them being that of governor and cap- 
tain general of Peru. Having so successfully accomplished his 
mission to the Spanish Court, the first governor of Peru returned to 
Panama, accompanied by a band of adventurers who had been lured 
to his banner by reports of the large quantities of gold and silver 
possessed by the Incas and their people. At Panama the intrepid 
adventurer gathered together one hundred and eighty men, twenty- 
seven horses for his cavalry, and a fairly good equipment of arms 
and ammunition. These were gotten aboard three small vessels, 
and the eventful expedition to the country of the Peruvians was 
started. Upon arrival in Peru with his small but well equipped 
force of soldiers, the Spanish conquerer promptlv revealed his 
treacherous nature to the people he had visited a few years prev- 
iously with seeming friendly intention. He proceeded to torture, 
kill, and rob the natives until he succeeded in crushing the spirit of 
the nation. Thus was the splendid empire of the Incas brought 
under Spanish rule, as had been that of Montezuma in Mexico by 
the ruthless conquest of Hernando Cortes. 

The ci\ilization of the Peruvians in many respects was of a 
higher tyi)e than was that of the Aztecs. Prom traditions of tlie 
aboriginal inhabitants it is known that Manco, the first Inca, with 
his wife. Mama Oella, mysteriously appeared to the superstitious 
natives on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Maneo told the astonished 
natives that he and his wife were children of the Sun, and declared 
that they had been sent by their god Ita (the Sun) to instruct and 
rule the people who dwelt in that regiou. They accepted his state- 
ments as true, and willingly became his subjects. Manco kept his 
word by instructing the people in agriculture and the arts. He gave 
them a pure religion and established an excellent social and national 
organization. Mama Oella taught the women to spin, weave and 
sew, and trained them in what is now called domestic science. 
Investigators and historians are conviiued that Manco and his wife 
were white persons. That they could have reached a country so 
rciiKitc. s('));if;il((l l)\ broad oceans lli;il no luai'iiicr iiad I lieu i'vcv 



and Southwest Virginia 9 

crossed from the continents where the white races lived, seems not 
only improbable but impossible. If, however, the traditions of the 
aborigines are substantially true as to the appearance of Manco 
and Mama Oella, they were of a race entirely different from the 
natives, and must have been white. The simple and superstitious 
natives were even disposed to believe that Pizarro and his cutthroat 
band were children of the gods, because of their personal appearance. 

The government which Manco established was in the nature of 
a mild but positive despotism. It constituted the Inca head of the 
priesthood, gave him authority to impose taxes and made him the 
absolute source of all governmental power. His empire was divided 
into four very extensive provinces, each of these being presided over 
by a viceroy or governor. The nation was further divided into 
departments of ten thousand inhabitants, and each of the depart- 
ments had a governor. In fact, the subdivisions were so extended 
as to embrace within the least departments as few as ten persons. 

There was also an advanced agrarian principle engrafted upon 
the government which Manco founded. No private ownership of 
land was permitted. All the lands were allotted each year, one-third 
of the territory of the empire being set apart for the Sun, the Inca, 
and the people, respectively. The lands allotted to the Sun were 
for the support of the temples of this god, to defray the expenses 
of tlie costly religious ceremonials and maintain the multitude of 
priests w^ho had charge of tlie temples and conducted the ceremonies. 
Those lands set apart for the Inca were to support his royal state 
and household, and defray the general expenses of the government. 
The remaining third of the lands was apportioned, per capita, in 
equal shares among all the people. The allotments made to heads 
of families were apportioned according to the number of persons in 
each family. It is stated tliat this system of annual distribution 
developed such excellent agricultural methods that the soil was made 
more productive instead of depleting its fertility. The sandy lands 
along the seacoast. that originally were of no agricultural value, 
were transformed into productive fields and rich pastures. This 
was accomplished by a system of artificial irrigation of such magni- 
tude as the world has never seen equaled. Water was conveyed 
from mountain lakes and streams to the sandy waste lands by the 
use of aqueducts, and distributed through canals sitnilar to those 
used by the ancient Egyptians, and like those now employed in the 
arid spclions of the United Slates east of the Rocky Mountains. 



10 History of Tazewell County 

Several of tlie Peruvian aqueduets were between four hundred and 
five hundred miles long. The ruins of some of them still attest the 
marvelous skill and energy of the people who constructed them 
without the aid of iron or steel tools or machinery of any kind. 
How they performed such stupendous tasks is likely to remain as 
great mystery as the building of the Egyptian pyramids. 

The religion of the Peruvians, though of pagan form, was of a 
higher type than that of most heathen nations. They worshipped, 
as did the Aztecs and as still do the unconverted tribes of North 
America, a Great Spirit, whom they adored as the Author and 
Ruler of the Universe. He, they piously believed could not be 
symbolized by an image nor be made to dwell in a temple erected 
by mortal men. They also believed in the immortality of the soul 
and the resurrection of the body after death. Like the Aztecs, 
however, they worshipped secondary gods, of whom they recognized 
the Sun as chief. 

That the Peruvians had some very skillful goldsmiths and silver- 
smiths was attested by the many beautiful ornan\ents they made 
from the precious metals to adorn their palaces and temples. Many 
of these ornaments were exquisitely designed representations of 
human and other forms, and of plants, all fashioned with accuracy 
as to form and feature. They also had highly skilled cutters and 
polishers of i^recious stones, and used them to fashion images of 
brilliantly colored birds, serpents, lizards and other things, the 
stones being cut and arranged with as much skill as the most accom- 
plished artists of Paris and Amsterdam have ever exhibited. 

Previous to the advent of the Incas there was another large and 
highly civilized nation that occupied Peru. Historians and ethnol- 
ogists have never found the name of this people, know nothing of 
their origin, and have to rest satisfied with referring to them as the 
pre-incarial nation, or nations. They had a civilization, a language, 
and a religion that were different from those of the incarial nation. 
That they lived in large cities is proven by the splendid architec- 
tural remains, sculptures, carvings and other sjjecimens of art that 
have been viewed with amazement by archeologists who explored the 
ruins of these ancient cities. The most diligent efforts of scientific 
investigators have failed to disclose from what regions these pre- 
incarial nations came and from which race of mankind they sprang. 
Therefore they will have to be classed as a })rehistoric race, just 



and Southwest Virginia 11 

as have been the cave-dwellers of the Rocky Mountains and the 
mound-builders of the Mississippi Valley. 

The Mexican and Peruvian aborigines, like the ancient Egypt- 
ians, made use of hieroglyphics instead of letters to record events 
and give expression to their languages. It is what has been termed 
picture writing, and the pictures used were representations of 
natural or artificial objects — such as celestial bodies, animals, fishes, 
reptiles, flowers, plants, the human form, works of art, and a num- 
erous variety of things. Among the Aztecs the women as well as 
the men were taught the art of reading and writing the hiero- 
glyphics. The women were also instructed in ciphering, singing and 
dancing, and even taught the secrets of astronomy and astrology. 
Their method of writing was so crude and grotesque and the system 
of notation so imperfect as to make them very inadequate for prac- 
tical purposes. 

When it is known that the Mexican and Peruvian Indians 
acquired so many of the elements of civilization, it is hard to under- 
stand why their attainments were not extended to some of the many 
other tribes of their race that occupied or roamed over all sections 
of the North and South American continents. The various tribes, 
especially the Toltecs, who inhabited Central America, were 
evidently a useful connecting link for vmiting the civilizations of 
Mexico and Peru; and it is probable that the Central American 
tribes imparted more than they received from their kindred nations 
of the Northern and Southern continents. 

The civilizations of these three great nations of the American 
aborigines, the Toltecs, the Aztecs and the Peruvians, partook more 
of the nature of a refined barbarism than of the type of civilization 
that developed in Europe after the Christian era began; and they 
were very deficient in intellectual and moral force. There were 
several potential causes for these deficiences. One of these was the 
forms of their religions, which were fundamentally mythological and 
consequently active breeders of superstition. The religions of the 
native Mexicans and Peruvians were intensely superstitious; and 
conspired to make them seclusive or hermit nations, similar to 
Japan before its policy of isolation was destroyed by Commodore 
Perry in 1853. 

Another reason for the restriction of the civilization of the 
Mexicans and Peruvians to their own nations was their failure to 
invent and make use of an alphabet, and their resultant inability 



12 History of Tazewell County 

to express tliemselves with words or a phonetic written language. 
Without an alphabet and a written language they could make no 
satisfactory record of important events that occurred in tlieir national 
life ; and; therefore, could not communicate what they had accunui- 
lated to neighboring tribes, or even transmit it to their own posterity, 
except by tradition. 

Another very substantial reason why the Mexicans and Peru- 
vians did not reacli a higher standard of civilization, nor impart 
what tliey had to other tribes of their race, was that they had no 
monetary system, no medium of exchange in the shape of metallic 
tokens that represented specific and intrinsic values. The vast 
quantities of silver and gold these })eoples had accumulated during 
the centuries that preceded the Spanish conquests were used almost 
exclusively for ornamentation of their temples and palaces, for 
making images of their gods, and for ornaments for tlieir persons. 
The Peruvians had no knowledge whatever of money and no medium 
of exchange; but the Aztecs had a kind of currency which they used 
in connection with their barter transactions. It consisted of small 
pieces of tin stamped with a character like a T, bags of cacao 
(chocolate seeds), valued according to the size of the bags; and 
small transparent quills filled with gold dust. This currency sys- 
tem was not superior to that of the North American tribes who used 
shells and beads, called wampum, for money; and was no better 
than the coon-skin currency of the pioneer settlers of this country. 
Neither of the nations had any knowledge of numerals or figures 
for keeping accounts and business transactions, nor did they have 
a system of weights and measures. 

The highest forms of civilization that existed among the nations 
of the Old World were developed by the peoples that were imbued 
with a spirit of commercialism; and who possessed the requisites 
for conducting business transactions, tiiat is a written language, a 
monetary system and a knoNvledge of numerals. All historians who 
have studied and written about the ancient nations of the world have 
agreed that the Phoenecians were the first to become noted as a 
great commercial and maritime people, and to engage extensively 
in foreign commerce. At a very early period their trade in manu- 
factured articles and other products extended over the best known 
parts of the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is conceded 
that the Phoenecians were tlie first nation that invented and made 
practical use of an alphabet, which was destined to become the 



and Southwest Virginia 13 

model for all European and American alphabets. Being the first 
to have an alphabet, the Phoenecians were the first nation to have 
a written language and a literature. These acquisitions served to 
stimulate invention, give impulse to industry and generate a com- 
mercial spirit, thereby supplying the most essential factors for tlic 
building of a high and progressive civilization. The aboriginal 
inhabitants of Mexico and Peru did not have these indispensibles. 
Consequently the form of civilization they acquired was very imper- 
fect. It was purely instinctive, the outcome of natural impulse, 
rather than the evolvement of mental ])n)ces.se.s; and tended to make 
these greatest nations of the American Indians physically and 
mentally weak. 

Three thousand years before tlie Spaniards invaded Mexico 
and Peru the Phoenecians had established intimate commercial rela- 
tions with the Iberians and Celts who then inhabited Spain, A num- 
ber of colonies from Phoenecia were established on the seacoast 
of Iberia, now Spain. Thus there was infused into the inhabitants 
of Spain the elements of civilization that had made the Phoenecians 
rank first among the nations of ancient times. At the time Columbus 
became the discoverer of America, Spain was the leading com- 
mercial and maritime nation of Europe, and was the greatest mili- 
tary and naval power of the world. In addition to that which Spain 
had procured from the Phoenecians, she had received from the 
Arabs what are known by the distinctive name of Arabic Numerals, 
the nine figures or digits and the zero that have been used for cen- 
turies by nearly all civilized nations in their arithmetical calcu- 
lations. 

The civilization of the Spaniards was of a very strong type, 
having been created by the intellectual development of its people, 
while that of the three greatest nations of the American race was 
superficial and weak, of spontaneous or instinctive growth. When 
these two entirely different forms of civilization met in mental and 
physical conflict the stronger, with its higher developed mental 
faculties, and trained soldiers, who were armed with cannon, guns. 
and swords and spears of tempered and polished steel, easily 
defeated the weaker people, burdened with pagan superstition and 
who were fighting with the same simple weapons their ancestors 
had used many centuries before. 

It will not be amiss for the writer to here make known his reason 
for so freely discussing the types of civilization that existed among 



14 History of Tazewell County 

the aborigines of Mexico and Peru when in their zenith. This has 
been done with a view of directing equal attention to the best forms 
of civilization that were found among some of the leading tribes of 
Indians who inhabited the North American Continent previous to 
its discovery and settlement by men of the white race. This will 
give opportunit}', by comparison, to analyze and exemplify the 
wonderful accomplishments of the pioneer settlers, and the steady 
progress made by their descendants since Tazewell Coimty became 
an organized society. 



CHAPTER II. 

NATIONS AND TRIBES NORTH OF MEXICO. 

Philologists and historians have^ without a dissenting voice, 
agreed that the North American Indians were divided into a number 
of distinct families; and that each of these families was subdivided 
into numerous subordinate tribes. Every subordinate tribe had its 
own dialect; and it is known that more than five hundred different 
dialects were used by the aborigines. There were also many differ- 
ences in traditions, habits, and social forms among the numerous 
tribes. 

THE ESKIMO. 

So far as has been ascertained, the Eskimo ever since their 
tribal or family organizations were established have inhabited the 
Arctic regions of the North American Continent. They have had 
very sparse settlements above the sixtieth parallel of latitude, are 
scattered across the continent from Labrador to Alaska, and even 
extending to Siberia. The Eskimo also inhabit the Asiatic side of 
Behring's Strait; and the people on both sides of the strait are 
pronouncedly Mongolian in feature. Being the only family common 
to both continents, they are claimed by many ethnologists to be an 
indisputable link connecting the Mongols of Asia and the Indians 
of America. 

The Eskimo are of medium stature but are very strong, and have 
great powers of endurance. Their skin is of a light brownish or 
yellow color and tinted with red on the exposed parts. They have 
small, well formed hands and feet, and their eyes, like nearly all 
the American tribes, have a Mongolian character, which confirms 
most ethnologists in the belief that they are of Asiatic origin. Their 
permanent settlements are so located as to be near the best hunting 
and fishing grounds. In summer time they hunt caribou, musk-ox. 
and different kinds of birds; and in the winter they subsist mainly 
on fish and sea mammals, principally the seal that abound in the 
Arctic regions. 

The Eskimo are of a very peacable disposition, are very truthful. 
and remarkably honest, but are extremely lax in their practices of 
sexual morality. Their dwellings in the summer are made of deer 
or seal skins stretched over poles, and in the winter they make shal- 

f 15 1 



iO History of Tazewell County 

low excavations iii tlie earth and use either wood or whale ribs for 
a framework, which they cover with turf. Alany of their winter 
huts are built with snow. 

Tlie social organization of this peculiar people is very loose, 
the village bemg the largest unit, while in matters of government 
each settlement is independent, a pure form of local self-govern- 
ment. There are no chiefs as found with the tribes of the American 
natives who lived south of the Eskimo. The men give their time to 
hunting and hshing, and the women perform all the hard labor. 
Though they are without anything like culture or education, they 
are said to be good draftsmen and carvers, and the people about 
Behring Strait do some painting. 

The Eskimo have a strange religion. They believe that spirits 
exist in animals and even in inanimate objects. Their chief deity 
is an old woman who lives in the ocean and who controls storms 
and causes the seals to visit or stay away, as she may direct, from 
the shores these sea animals frequent. Many other ridiculous 
beliefs are held in connection with this old woman of the sea. The 
larger portion of the Eskimo of Greenland and Labrador have been 
converted to Christianity by Moravian and Danish missionaries; 
and Russian missionaries for over a century have been working 
among the natives of Alaska. The Eskimo have been of great ser- 
vice to all explorers of the Artie regions. Recent estimates of the 
number of Eskimo living in North America place them at nearly 
thirty thousand. 

THE ALGONQUIAN FAMII'Y. 

When the Europeans first discovered the North American Con- 
tinent and began to explore and make settlements on its coasts the 
Algonquians were one of the most prominent and powerful families 
of the red men. They occupied and roamed over an extensive terri- 
tory south of that inhabited by the Eskimo, including the greater 
part of Canada and nearly all that portion of the United States 
which lies north of tlic thirty-seventh parallel of latitude. Their 
territory is said to have reached from the eastern shore of New- 
fomidland to the Rocky Mountains, and fi-om Churchill River, in 
British North America, to Pamlico Sound. The population of the 
various tribes or nations of this family of the aborigines has been 
estimated in the aggregate at a quarter of a million when they first 
became known to men of the white race. Among the tribes of the 



and Southwest Virginia 17 

Algonquians were the Shawnees, and also all the tribes that occupied 
Virginia east of the Blue Ridge Mountains^ inchiding those of the 
Powhatan Confederacy. Most of the Algonquian tribes were of an 
exceedingly nomadic disposition; and were constantly moving from 
one hunting ground and river to others to indulge their passionate 
fondness for hunting and fishing, as well as to make sure of their 
supplies of food. The Shawnees were the most ardent rovers 
of the various Algonquian tribes ; and, consequently, gave very 
little attention to agriculture or home-building. It is said thai 
when the French and other Europeans began to settle in and about 
the territory of the Algonquians that this large family of the 
American race had already begun to decline in numbers ; and was 
being greatly reduced by deadly diseases that practically wiped out 
entire subordinate tribes. This family of the aborigines is also 
reputed to have suffered more than any of their kindred nations 
from contact with the white mtn. They were easily duped and 
debauched by the unscrupulous white traders who gave them "fire- 
water" in exchange for their furs and lands. 

THE HUKON-IROQUOIS NATION. 

A great nation known as the Huron-Iroquois inhabited territory 
within the bounds of that occupied by the Algonquian tribes when 
America was discovered by Columbus. It was a confederation of 
tribes of Algonquian origin. In the zenith of their power the 
Hurons exercised dominion over territory that extended from 
Georgian Bay and Lake Huron to Lakes Erie and Ontario, and 
south of these lakes extended on down to the Upper Oliio Valley, 
and eastward to the Sorell River. 

The Huron-Iroquois Confederacy originally was composed of 
the following tribes, the Hurons (afterwards known as the Wyan- 
dots) who lived north of Lake Erie; the Eries and Andestas, who 
resided south of that lake; the Tuscaroras who went from North 
Carolina and rejoined their kindred in the north; the Senecas, 
Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks. The last mentioned 
five tribes constituted what was known as the Five Nations of New 
York, and later called the Six Nations after the TuSicaroras joined 
them in 1712. 

The Six Nations occupied the central and western sections of 
the State of New York, and had an estimated population of fifteen 
thousand. They were pronounced one of the most intelligent, enter- 

TH.-2 



18 History of Tazewell County 

prising and warlike aboriginal nations that occupied the north- 
eastern portion of the continent. Their villages were of respectable 
size and character, and each tribe was divided into farailieSj and 
governed by sachems or chiefs. All matters that affected the general 
interests of the confederated tribes were considered and settled by 
a conference of all the chiefs of the confederacy. When the English 
colonists in 1776 revolted against the British Government, and while 
the war of the Revolution was in progress, the Iroquois became the 
allies of the British. They were influenced to pursue this course by 
the very unjust and cruel treatment they had received from the 
colonists. Led by Joseph Brant, the Mohawk chief, and Red 
Jacket, chief of the Senecas, the Iroquois inflicted some terrible 
blows upon the white settlements and ga^e much valuable assistance 
to the British armies that the American colonies were struggling 
against. 

Toward the close of the eighteenth century most of the Iroquois 
tribes sold their lands in New York and gradually moved away. 
The Mohawks settled in Canada, and were afterwards joined there 
by a part of the Tuscaroras and pai'ts of other tribes. Other por- 
tions of the several tribes eventually moved to western reservations 
or to Canada. A part of the Senacas went to the Indian Territory, 
now the State of Oklahoma. In 1917 there were 435 Senecas in 
that State under Federal Supervision. There were about 5,500 
Iroquois living as an independent community in New York State in 
the year 1890. The report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
for 1916, shows that the number of Indians then living in New 
York was 6,245, of whom 5,585 were under supervision of the 
New York Agency of the Federal Government. 

South of the country inhabited by the Alogonquian tribes were 
the Cherokees. This nation and that of the Shawnees had so much 
to do with the history of the pioneer settlers of Southwest Virginia, 
and of Tazewell County, that it will be necessary for tlie writer to 
give these two more particular attention than any of tlie tribes 
mentioned. For this reason, tliat which shall be written about the 
Clierokees and Shawnees will be put in the closing chapters of the 
Aboriginal Period. 

THE MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY. 

In the country which now constitutes the extreme Southern 
States of the United States east of the Mississippi River, dwelt the 



and Southwest Virginia 19 

Muskhogean family of the North American Indians. The principal 
tribes of this family were: the Creeks, the Choctaws, the Chickasaw- 
and the Seminoles. Although members of the same family, there 
were many distinct dissimilarities in both their physical and mental 
characteristics. All of the tribes were fond of agriculture, and they 
all lived in villages of comfortable log houses. Their villages that 
were exposed to attack from an enemy were protected by pali- 
sades. They were all brave warriors, but the Choctaws were dis- 
posed to fight entirely in self-defense, while the Creeks and the 
Chickasaws were inclined to engage in offensive wars. The Creeks 
and the Choctaws, each, had a confederacy, with smaller tribes 
attached thereto. These confederacies were political organizations 
erected on kinship, real or fictitious, and the principal object of the 
confederation was mutual defense. The Muskhogean people num- 
bered 50,000 when first known to the white men. 

THE CREEKS. 

Of tlie four tribes of the Muskhogean family, the Creeks have 
been regarded as the leader. Their name was given them by the 
English on account of the numerous small streams of water in the 
country they occupied. They first came in contact with the white 
race when De Soto invaded their country in 154<0. At that time 
they held the greater portion of Alabama and Georgia, and had 
their chief villages on the Coosa, Tallapoosa, Flint and Chatta- 
hoocha rivers. The Creeks became treaty allies of the English 
colonists in the Apalachee wars of 1703-08, and from that time were 
the faithful friends of the colonists of South Carolina and Georgia, 
with two exceptions, but were bitter foes of the Spaniards. They 
were allies of the British Government in the Revolutionary War. 
In 1790 they made a treaty of peace with the United States, but in 
1812 were seduced by England's emissaries, broke the treaty and 
committed a number of bloody outrages upon the white inhabitants 
of Georgia, Alabama and Florida. The British sent Tecumseh, the 
celebrated Shawnee chief, in the spring of 1812 from Ohio to the 
Creeks and other Indian tribes of the South to enlist their support 
in the war against the United States. Tecumseh used his savage 
eloquence with telling effect, reminding his kindred of the South of 
the seizing of their lands by the whites, called attention to the con- 
tinued encroachments of the pale faces and to the diminution and 
probable destruction of the Indian race. The Creeks and Seminoles 



20 History of Tazewell County 

were infuriated by Tecumseh's appeals, and in September, 1812, 
began war against the white inhabitants of the South. They were 
soon overawed by General Andrew Jackson, who marched against 
them with twenty-five hundred Tennessee volunteers. Incited by 
British agents, the Indians renewed their war against the whites in 
1813. About four hundred inhabitants in the most exposed situa- 
tions on the Alabama River gathered at Fort Mimms for protection. 
The Indians made a surprise attack upon the fort at noon on the 
30th of August, 1813. There were about six hundred warriors who 
were led by their chief, Weatherford. The whites were driven into 
the houses, the torch was applied to the buildings, and most of 
those who escaped the flames became victims of the tomahawk. 
Only seventeen persons escaped to carry tlie news of the frightful 
disaster to other stations. 

General Jackson and other military leaders began ruthless war 
against the Creeks, desolated their country and killed two thousand 
of their warriors. After two years of desultory war the Indians 
were brought into subjection, but continued to give trouble to the 
white people of the surrounding country until they were removed 
to the Indian Territory in 183(i. At the time of their removal they 
numbered 24.591'. The Creek Nation is now a part of the Five 
Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma; and in lOUi the nation numbered 
18,774. Of these ll,9(i5 are Creeks by blood, while 6,809 are 
freedmen. descendants of the negro slaves the Creeks took with 
tfiem when they were s<'nt to the Indian Territory. 

THE CHOCTAWS. 

When first known to Europeans the Choctaws were occupying 
Middle and Southern Mississippi, and their territory extended at 
one time east of the Tombigbee River, as far as Dallas County. 
Georgia. Tlu meaning of the name Choctaw is unknown, but is 
believed to signify a sej^aration, that is, sejiaration from the Creeks 
and Seminoles who were once united with the Choctaws as one 
tribe. As before stated, they were a branch of the Muskhogean 
family, and were the leading agriculturists of the Southern Indians. 
The Choctaws were a very brave people, but their devotion to agri- 
culture seems to have led tliem to go to war in most instances on the 
defensive. From the narratives of De Soto's expendition, it is 
known tliat the Spanish explorer came in contact with tlie Choctaws 



and Southwest Virginia 21 

in 154-0. He had several very fierce encounters with these Indians 
and found them splendid fighters. 

About the year 1700 the Choctaws became very friendly with 
the French, who were then settling colonies at Mobile, and New- 
Orleans. Although they were of their own kindred the Choctaws 
were constantly engaged in war with the Creeks and Chickasaws. 
In 1786 they acknowledged their allegiance to the United States; 
and rendered the Government very efficient service in the war with 
England in 1812, and also in the Creek war. Although they were 
given special privileges by Georgia, that State going so far as to 
invest them with citizenship, they gradually emigrated beyond the 
Mississippi River and finally settled in the Indian Territory. In 
the Civil War they cast their fortune with the Confederate States, 
but after that war was ended renewed their allegiance to the United 
States. They are now one of the principal nations of the American 
natives living in Oklahoma, and one of the members of the Five 
Civilized Tribes Confederation of that State. According to the 
1916 report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the Choctaw 
Nation numbers 26,828. They are divided as follows: By blood 
17,488; by intermarriage 1,651; Mississippi Choctaw 1,660; freed- 
men 6,029, the latter, as in the case of the Creeks, being the descend- 
ants of slaves owned by the Choctaws at the close of the Civil War. 

THE CHICKASAWS. 

From their traditions we learn tiiat the Chickasaws were closely 
related to the Choctaws both by blood and language. Notwith- 
standing this fact, the two tribes were very hostile and were con- 
stantly engaged in armed conflict. According to their traditions 
the Chickasaws and Choctaws came originally from the West, and 
settled east of the Mississippi River. Fernando De Soto and his 
ill-fated followers found them there in 154'0 and passed the winter 
of 1510-11 in the country of these Indians. The Spaniards had 
many encounters with them and greatly terrorized the poor natives ; 
but in the spring of 1511 the Chickasaws inflicted a very heavy blow 
to De Soto and his followers. The Spaniards undertook to force 
the natives to accompany their expedition as guides and baggage- 
carriers. They refused to be thus enslaved, burnt Ue Soto's camp 
and their own villages, and concealed themselves in impenetrable 
swamps. Forty of tlie Spaniards perished in the conflagration 
and a large part of their baggage was destroyed. 



22 History of Tazewell County 

The Chickasaws were from the earliest times noted for their 
courage and independent spirit ; and were almost incessantly fighting- 
some of the neighboring tribes. They had wars with the Choctaws, 
the Creeks^ the Cherokees^ the Shawnees, and even with the Iroquois. 
The latter once invaded their territory and the invading band was 
almost destroyed. The Chickasaws were always the bitter foe of 
the French^ this feeling of enmity being encouraged by the Englisli 
traders and intensified by an alliance of the French with the Choc- 
taws. In 1736 the)^ defeated the P'rench in several battles, and 
successfully resisted an attempt to conquer them in 1739-40. 

In 1786 the United States established friendly relations with 
the Chickasaws by a treaty, wliich is known as the tx*eaty of Hope- 
well; and they gave valuable assistance to the white inhabitants in 
the Creek War of 1813-14. Early in the nineteenth century the 
Chickasaws ceded a part of their territory in considel*ation of certain 
annuities provided for them by the Federal Government, and a por- 
tion of the tribe moved to Arkansas. In 1832-34 the remainder, 
numbering about 3,600 ceded the 6,642,000 acres which they still 
claimed east of the Mississippi, removed to the Indian Territory, 
and became incorporated with the Choctaw Nation. By a treaty 
made in 1855 their lands were separated from those of the Chocr- 
taws, and they acquired thereby their present very valuable holdings 
in Oklahoma. In tlie war between the States, 1861-65, the Chicka- 
saw Nation gave its support to the Confederate Government, as they 
owned a number of negro slaves and were in entire sympathy with 
the Soutliern people. The tribe is now one of the Five Civilized 
Tribes Confederation in Oklahoma. Thej'^ numbered 10,966 in 1916, 
divided as follows : By blood 5,659 ; by intermarriage 645 ; f reed- 
men, 4,662. The freedmen are the descendants of the slaves held 
by the Chickasaws when slavery was abolished b}' President Lin- 
coln. 

THE SEMINOLES. 

There were several small tribes that were offshoots of the larger 
tribes of the Muskhogean family; but the Seminole is the only tribe, 
in addition to the three already mentioned, that is of sufficient his- 
toric importance to be considered by the writer. The Seminoles 
were originally a vagrant branch of the Creeks, and the name, 
Seminole, signifies wild or reckless. Thej'^ moved from the Lower 
Creek towns on the Chattahoochee River to Florida after the Apala- 



and Southwest Virginia 23 

chee tribe, also a branch of the Muskhogean family, was driven 
from that country. The Apalachees were friendly to the Spaniards ; 
and the English Government of Carolina sent an expedition against 
the Spaniards and Appalachees in 1703. The army of Governor 
Moore was composed of one company of white soldiers and one 
thousand Indian allies, mostly Creeks. They invaded the Apala- 
chee's country and destroyed their towns, fields and orange groves, 
killed 200 of the Apalachee warriors and made captives of 1,400 
of the tribe, who were made slaves. The following year the English 
and Indians made a second invasion and totally destroyed the Apala- 
chee tribe in Florida. The Seminole branch of the Creeks took 
possession of the territory formerly occupied by the Apalachee 
tribe. While Florida remained under Spanish rule, the Seminoles 
were very hostile to the United States. They were identified with 
the Creeks in support of the British in the Revolutionary War and 
the war with England in 1812. Still later, through British influence, 
they gave the Federal Government a great deal of trouble. This 
was during the first administration of President Monroe. The 
Seminoles began to make violent attacks upon the white settlers in 
Florida ; and General Andrew Jackson, who had already become 
famous as an Indian fighter, was sent there with general and ample 
powers to suppress the hostiles. British emissaries were going 
among the Indians, and were inciting them to the commission of 
frightful outrages upon the whites. With an army composed of 
eight hundred regulars, one thousand Georgia militia, the same 
number of Tennessee volunteers, and fifteen hundred friendly Cre»^k 
Indians, General Jackson entered upon his task of crushing the 
Seminole uprising. He accomplished his purpose so effectually that 
Spain abandoned its claim to the territory, and in 1823 ceded 
Florida to the United States. 

In 1832 the United States made a treaty with a part of the 
Seminole chiefs, which provided for the removal of the whole tribe 
to a section west of the Mississippi. Osceola, one of the chiefs of 
the tribe, and who afterwards became famous, persuaded his people 
to repudiate the treaty and refuse to vacate their homes in Floridci. 
This provoked a war with the United States which lasted for eigh- 
teen years. Tliough but a very small band of the Seminoles, lead 
by the fearless Osceola, were engaged in it. the war cost the United 
States thousands of lives and twenty millions of dollars. At the 
conclusion of the war, Osceola having finally been made a captive, 



24 



History of Tazewell Coiint>' 



the greater part of the tribe was h>eated on a reservation on the 
borders of Arkansas. The story of the long eonfinement of Oseeola 
in the ohl fort at St. Augustine, and his refusal to go out with the 
other Indians who made their escape, is full of pathos and romance. 
In the re])ort of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the 
year 191(5, it is stated that 571- Seminolcs still live in Florida. The 
men are rejjorted to be splendid s]iecimens of physical manhood by 
persons frcMu this section of Virginia who make visits in the winter 




The above is a portrait of Osceola, ami is made from a print fur- 
nished the author by the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian 
Institution. In 18B5 he was trenclierously seined by General .Tesup, and 
made a prisoner, while holding a conference under a flag of truce. 
Broken in spirit from brooding over the manner in which he had been 
betrayed, he died a prisoner in Fori iMouUrie, Florida, in .Taiuiary, 1.S.S8. 

to the Land of Flowers. From the same report of the Commissioner 
of Indian Affairs it is h arjied that the Seminoles exist as a separate 
nation in Oklahoma, aiul is a member of the confederacy of the 
Five Civilized Tribes. They number^ 3^127 souls, of whom 98() are 
called freedmen. bein"- the descendants of former negro slaves. 



THK SIOI A OR SIOUN 1-AMII,V. 



When the Europeans began lo j)]aiit colonies on the eastern 
coasts of the North American Coidinenl there were several large 
and powerful nations of the American aborigines then oceiipving 

Ihal portion of llic f iiilcl Sl.-itcs wliicli lies \v<sl of llic Mississippi 



and Southwest Virginia 25 

River. The largest and best known tribe of the Siouan family is 
the Dakotas, now commonly called the Sioux. They exercised 
dominion over a vast territory that extended from the Arkansas 
River at the South to the country of the Eskimo in the North; and 
rca-'hed westward from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Moun- 
tains. There were several principal and a number of subordinate 
tribes of the Dakotas, with different languages, customs, and social 
organizations. The first time the Sioux ever came in contact with 
the white man was when De Soto reached the Quapaw villages in 
Eastern Arkansas. The Quapaw were a subordinate tribe of the 
Dakotas. One of the chroniclers of the De Soto expedition relates 
that one portion of the Qna])aw tribe was found living in a strongly 
fortified village, which he said was, "very great, walled and beset 
with towers." He also says: "Many loopholes were in the towers 
and walls, a great lake came near into the wall, and ii entered the 
ditch that went around about the town, wanting but little to envinm 
it. From the lake to the great river (Mississippi) was made a 
weir by which the fish came into it." This report is pronounced by 
American investigators a very great exaggeration, as is also the 
statement: "And in the town was a great store of maiz and great 
quantity of new in the fields. Within a league were great towns, 
all walled." 

The Dakotas were first met by the French explorers in 1640. 
near the headwaters of the Mississippi River; and in 1689 Nicholas 
Perrot took possession of their country for France. In subsequent 
wars the French drove them down the INIississippi and they located 
on the plains of the Missouri. During the Revolution and the War 
of 1812, the Dakotas were the allies of the Britisli. 

The social organization of this nation was originally based upon 
the plan of groups or bands, of which there was a large number. 
Each group had a chief who was selected by the members thereof 
and was chosen for the position because of his personal fitness. His 
authority was controlled and limited by the band, and he could do 
but little in matters that affected its interests, without the consent 
or approval of the members. Marriage outside the group was 
encouraged, for the purpose of introducing new blood, and polygamy 
was commonly practiced. 

After the United States acquired the territory occupied by the 
Dakotas. or Sioux, frequent treaties were made with these Indians; 
hv which e\lrnsi\-r and vmIiimIiIc boundaries of land were ceded to 



26 History of Tazewell County 

the United States. Nearly all of these treaties were indifferently 
observed by the Federal Government, and several wars with the 
Sioux resulted. The last war with these Indians was fought in 
1876. Rich discoveries of gold were made in the Black Hills, the 
greater part of which region belonged by treaty to the Sioux. A 
desperate and greedy horde of white gold-hunters and adventurers 
rushed into the Black Hills, regardless of the wishes and rights of 
the Sioux. This so enraged the Indians that, under the leadership 
of Sitting Bull, they broke away from their reservations, roamed 
through Wyoming and Montana, burned houses, stole horses, and 
killed all persons who offered resistance. The National Government 
took immediate steps to force the Indians back to their reservations, 
sending out for that purpose a large force of regulars under Gen- 
erals Terry, Crook, Custer, and Reno. Sitting Bull and his three 
tliousand warriors had been driven back against Bighorn Mountain 
and River, and Generals Custer and Reno were sent forward with the 
Seventh Cavalry to locate the enemy. These generals divided their 
forces into two columns and separated. Sitting Bull had prepared 
an ambush and led Custer and his small body of cavalry into a 
position wliere they were forced to charge the large force of Indians. 
This was on the 25th of June, 1876. In the bloody battle General 
Custer and every man in his command was killed. 

After the battle, the Indians separated into two parties. Sitting 
Bull was in command of the western party, and was ovei'taken and 
attacked and routed by General Miles. A large number of the 
Indians surrendered, but the remainder of the band, with their 
chief, escaped to Canada. They remained there until 1881, when 
Sitting Bull returned with his band to the United States, and under 
promise of amnesty surrendered at Fort Buford. He was confined 
at Fort Randall until 1883. In 1888 the Government tried to buy 
the lands of the Sioux, but under the influence of Sitting Bull they 
refused to sell. He organized a Ghost dance on the reservation, 
which meant another revolt. A demand was made for his arrest, 
and when an attempt was made by some of his people to rescue him 
he was shot and killed by Sergeants Red Tomahawk and Bullhead 
of the Indian police, on December 15th, 1890. 

The great body of the Sioux had been persuaded to return to 
their reservation in 1880. They ceded a part of tlieir lands to the 
United States in 1889. About 17,000 of this formerly fierce and 



and Southwest Virginia 27 

unruly nation are now living quietly, under Government supervision, 
on their reservation in South Dakota. 

THE COMANCHES. 

South of the Dakotas lived and roved the wild and fierce 
Comanches. They were one of the Southern tribes of tlie Shoshone 
family and the only one of that group that lived exclusively on the 
plains. Philologists affirm that from their language and traditions 
it is evident they are an offshoot from the Shoshones of Wyoming. 
Botli of these tribes have practically the same dialect, and have 
always maintained tlie friendliest relations toward each other. They 
originally occupied, or rather roamed over, the territory now 
embraced in the States of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, 
Colorado, and possibly parts of other adjacent States. When they 
first became known to Europeans they. lived in the regions between 
the upper Brazos and Colorado, on one side, and the Arkansas and 
Missouri on the other. The Comanches were great nomads, were 
constantly moving about, and lived in tents that were covered with 
buffalo skins and that were portable. Their great delight was hunt- 
ing the buffalo, and they were acknowledged the best horsemen of 
the plains. Originally they were divided into twelve distinct 
divisions or bands. Only five of these are now said to be in existence, 

The Comanches disliked the Spaniards very much and were 
constantly at war with them when the Spanish Government con- 
trolled Mexico. They were very friendly with Americans until they 
were driven from their hunting grounds in Texas by the settlers in 
that State. In 1835 they made their first treaty with the United 
States, and by a treaty, known as the treaty of Medicine Lodge, 
made in 1867, they agreed to settle on a reservation between the 
Washita and Red Rivers in Southwestern Oklahoma. But the 
Indians failed to comply with this treaty until 1876, when they 
consented to setttle on the reservation. Until that time the 
Comanches were a constant menace to the settlers in Western and 
Northwestern Texas. The 1916 report of the Commissioner of 
Indian Affairs shows that the Comanche tribe in Oklahoma numbers 
1,568 persons, who are leading a quiet and orderly life. 

THE PACIFIC COAST INDIANS. 

West of the Rocky Mountains, in that section of the United 
States called the Pacific States, lived what have been named by 



28 History of Tazewell County 

some liistoriaiis the Nations of the Plains. When the Spaniards 
extended their diseoveries up the Paeifie coast and made settlements 
in California there were about 150,000 aboriginal inhabitants then 
living in that State. At the present time there are a little more 
than 15^000 located in California. The majority of them are living 
as squatters on the land of white citizens or of the Government, 
while others are on land allotted them by the Government, and some 
own the land they occupy. 

The Indians the white men found on the Pacific coast were 
divided into a large number of groups, with at least twenty-one 
linguistic families, or about one-fourth of the entire number found 
in North America. Of these the Shoshonean and Yuman at the 
South, and the Athapascan and Klamath at the North, were the 
principal families. These families were, each, divided into a number 
of subordinate tribes or units; and thcj' occupied all the Pacific 
Slope from Lower California up to and into British Columbia. 

The California aborigines are among the least known of the 
grouj^s or tribes of the race that inhabited the North American Con- 
tinent. They were a timid and indolent people, and the white men 
experienced very little trouble in depriving them of their lands. The 
various tribes had no social organizations, and culturally were, per- 
haps, the rudest and simplest of the several nations of the American 
race that lived on the continent. They gave no attention whatever 
to agriculture, but subsisted entirely on fish and game and a wild 
vegetable diet. Their main vegetable food consisted of different 
varieties of acorns, and seeds which they gathered from grasses 
and herbs. 

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs states in his 1917 report 
that there are 15,362 Indians living in California, 6,612 in Oregon, 
and 11,181 in Washington, or a total of 33,155 in the three Pacific 
Coast States. Historians and investigators have not suggested any 
specific cause for the singularly large reduction of the Indian popu- 
lation of California. It may be that two reasons can be reasonably 
assigned for this peculiar condition, migration and depletion from 
contact with the evil habits of white men. 

THE CHKKOKKKS. 

When the first white settlers came and built their cabins in Ta/c- 
well the Cherokees and Shawneesjwere rival claimants of the terri- 
tory now embraced in the bounds of the countv ; and of the entire 



and Southwest Virginia 29 

Clinch Valley. In fact, both tribes asserted title to all the territory 
that lies between the Clinch Valley and the Ohio River. Therefore 
the writer deemed it appropriate to say very little about the Chero- 
kees and Shawnees, until after all other tribes to be chronicled were 
disposed of. I have made diligent effort to procure all information 
obtainable about the Cherokees and the Shawnees, so as to be pre- 
pared to write a complete but condensed narrative of these two 
tribes whose history is so interwoven with that of the pioneer set- 
tlers. A number of histories have been carefully studied, the Bureau 
of American Ethnology has been consulted, and correspondence 
conducted with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. From these 
best known sources the most reliable information has been procured 
and is now used. 

The philologists and areheologists who have made the most 
recent investigations of the traditions and life of the aboriginal 
inhabitants of America designate the Cherokees as a powerful 
detached tribe of the Iroquoian family who came originally from 
the North and settled in the Alleghany region. They first became 
known to men of the white race when De Soto came in contact with 
them in 1540. At that time they were occupying the entire moun- 
tain region of the Southern Alleghanies, in Southwest Virginia, 
Western North Carolina and South Carolina, Northern Georgia, 
Eastern Tennessee, and Northeastern Alabama, and made claim to 
territory in Virginia and Kentucky that reached as far as the Ohio 
River and as far east as the Peaks of Otter. George Bancroft, the 
eminent American historian and statesman, in his splendid history 
of the United States, thus speaks of the Cherokees and the beautiful 
country they inhabited: 

"The mountaineers of aboriginal America were the Cherokees, 
who occupied the upper valley of the Tennesee River as far west 
as Muscle Shoals, and the highlands of Carolina, Georgia, and 
Alabama, the most picturesque and salubrious region east of the 
Mississippi. Their homes were encircled by blue hills rising beyond 
hills, of which the lofty peaks would kindle with the early light, 
and the overshadowing ridges envelop the valleys like a mass of 
clouds. There the rocky cliffs, rising in naked grandeur, defy the 
lightning, and mock the loudest peals of the thunder storm ; there 
the gentler slopes are co^■ered with magnolias and flowering forest 
trees, decorated with roving climbers, and ring with the perpetual 
note of the whip-pooi'-will ; thei-o the wholesome water gushes pro- 



30 History of Tazewell County 

fuse'}- from the earth in transparent sjirings; snow-white cascades 
friitter on the hillsides; and the rivers, shallow but pleasant to the 
eye, rush through the narrow vales, which the abundant strawberry 
crimsons, and copices of rhododendron and flaming azelea adorn. 
At the fall of the leaf, the fruit of the hickory and chestnut is thickly 
thrown on the ground. The fertile soil teems with luxuriant herb- 
age, on which the roebuck fattens; the vivifying breeze is laden 
with fragrance ; and daybreak is ever welcomed by the shrill cries 
of the night-hawk and the liquid carols of the mocking-bird. 
Through this lovely region were scattered the villages of the Chero- 
kees, nearly fifty in number, each consisting of but a few cabins, 
erected where the bend in the mountain stream offered at once a 
defence and a strip of aluvial soil for culture." 

What a wonderfully beautiful pen-picture is this of the home- 
land of the Cherokees, so exquisitely drawn by America's word 
artist historian. But the gifted writer might have added much 
lustrous beauty to his painting, if he had, with corresponding skill, 
portrayed the primitive hunting grounds of these Indians, located 
in our own delightful valleys of the Clinch and the Holston. What 
a field for brilliant imagery the word-painter could have found here. 
The wondrous scenic beauty of Southwest Virginia, generally, and 
of Tazewell County in particular, has spread their fame both far 
and wide. Here in primitive days the lofty mountains and towering 
peaks, clothed with living green in summer time, and clad with 
fleecy snow and icy pendants in winter season, stood as silent sen- 
tinels above and around the magnificent foi'ests of oak, poplar, wal- 
nut and sugar maple, that transformed each mountain hollow and 
valley into a sylvan palace. In these sylvan homes the nightingale, 
thrilled by the soft moonbeams, warbled its liquid melodies; and 
the mocking-bird, thrush and oriole, screened from the scorching 
rays of the noonday sun by the refreshing shade of the sugar tree, 
carolled their richest and sweetest songs. And here Diana and her 
companion nymphs might have discovered thousands of crystal 
springs, in whose pellucid depths they could have seen their ravish- 
ingly beautiful forms reflected as no highly polished hand-made mir- 
ror could present them. If the fabled gods had once drunk of these 
sweet, sparkling waters, they would have thrown aside their cups 
of nectar and declined to quaft" again their beverage of distilled 
honey. Here, too, as natives to the soil, luxuriantly grew the 
sweetest and most nutritious herbage for animals the wide-world 



and Southwest Virginia 31 

has ever known, the wild pea vine and nature's richest pasturage, 
the bluegrass. Instinctively, from all regions, east, west, nortli, 
and south, came the ponderous buffalo, the heavy antlered elk, and 
the fleet-footed deer to feed and fatten upon the succulent herbage 
that was of spontaneous growth in this wonderful country. 

Is it strange that every tribe of Indians that ever visited the 
valleys of the Holston and Clinch on hunting expeditions, or had 
ever heard of the abundance of game that gathered here, made claim 
of ownership to this great natural game park? When the white men 
first came to this section they found not only the Cherokees and 
Shawnees, but even the Iroquois tribes of New York, asserting 
ownership of the territory. It was truly a debatable land, to which 
no one tribe had other than an assumed or fictitious title. This 
gave to that class of white men known as "Long Hunters" equal 
right with the nomads to enter and enjoy this Hunter's Paradise. 
And surely it gave to the pioneer settlers, who were eager to make 
homes for their families upon its fruitful soil, an undisputed natural 
right to enter and make proper use of "God's Country," which the 
aborigines had for so many centuries left a wilderness waste. 



Philologists have decided that the tribal name, Cherokee, is a 
corruption of Tslagi or Tsaragi, and is said to be derived from the 
Choctaw, chiluk-ki, "cave-people." This name alludes to the many 
caves that are found in the mountain country where the Cherokees 
then lived. The Iroquois, their Northern kindred, called them 
Oyatage ronon, which means inhabitants of the cave countr3\ From 
traditions of the tribe and tlie character of their language, and from 
the findings of archaelogists, it has been decided that the Cherokees 
were originally from the North; but it has been impossible to fix 
definitely the localit}' from which they migrated or to determine 
why they moved to the South. 

From investigations made by studt-nts of the Indian race, it 
has been ascertained that the Cherokees were anciently divided into 
fourteen clans, and that eight of these have become extinct by 
absorption or from other causes. The names of the seven existing 
clans are as follows: Ani-waya (Wolf), Ani-Kawi (Deer), Ani- 
Tsiskwa (Bird), Ani-Wadi (Paint), Ani-Sahani, Ani-Ga'tagewi, 
Ani-Gilahi. Philologists have not been able to find with certainty 
translations for the names of the last three clans. The Wolf clan 
is first in importance and the number of its people ; and all the clans 
are recognized in the printed laws and ritual prayers of the nation. 



32 History of Tazewell County 

About one hundred and fifty years after De Soto's disastrous 
expedition relations between the C'lierokees and the English eolon- 
ists of the Carolinas began; and for a period of nearly fifty years 
thereafter these red men adhei-ed faithfully to their white friends. 
In 1729 the two Carolina provinces were separated and named, 
respectively^ North Carolina and South Carolina. The proprietary 
government, that had been conducting the afi'airs of both since the 
colony was founded, was superseded by the appointment of a royal 
governor for each of the provinces. 

As soon as the royal government was established in the Carolina 
provinces, Sir Alexander Cumming was sent as a special envoy to 
the Cherokee Nation for the purpose of negotiating a treaty which 
would make them allies, or rather subjects of Great Britain. The 
chiefs of the tribe were summoned, and assembled at Nequassee, in 
the Tennessee Valley, where they were met by the English envoy 
in April, 1730. They formally acknowledged the King of England 
as their sovereign, and in token thereof presented the English 
envoy a chaj^let made with four scalps of their enemies and five 
eagle tails. The Cherokees were then induced to send seven of 
their chiefs as deputies to England, where they were persuaded to 
sign a treaty adroitly drawn, which the Indians thought was merely 
a treaty of alliance — offensive and defensive. One of the provisions 
of the treaty was that no white men, except the English, should be 
permitted to build cabins or cultivate the soil in the territory of 
the Cherokees. The seven chiefs were then presented to King 
George and his court ; and were coolly informed that, by the treaty, 
their nation had become subjects of England; and that their lands 
were the property of the British Crown. This was the beginning 
of a series of deceptions practiced by the white men upon the Chero- 
kees that ultimately deprived them of their cherished homes in the 
Southern AUeghanies. The Indians, however, for a quarter of a 
century stood faithfully to their treaty pledges. 

In 1755 the Cherokees ceded territory to the British Government 
and permitted the erection of English forts thereon. About this 
time the whites began to make serious encroachments 'upon the tribe; 
and the wrongs inflicted became so galling to the natives that in 
1769, under the leadership of Chief Oconostota, they started a war 
against the Carolinians. In 1760, Governor Lyttleton of South 
Carolina sent an invitation to some of the chiefs to meet him in con- 



and Southwest Virginia^ 33 

ference for the purpose, if possible, of so adjusting their differences 
as to prevent a continuance of hostilities between the colonies and 
the Indians. During the conference misunderstandings arose among 
the conferees over some matters in dispute; and Governor Lyttleton, 
unwisely and treacherously, seized the chiefs and put them in prison. 
This conduct of the governor of South Carolina was very justly 
resented by the Indians as an act of bad faith. Upon their release 
the chiefs returned to their country, and their people were so pro- 
voked by the indignity that war against the whites was urged and 
was begun. The South Carolinians were so hard pressed by the 
Indians that they had to call for assistance from other colonies. 
Colonel Thomas Montgomery was sent from New York with two 
thousand men to aid the Carolinians. In a short Lime after his 
arrival in Carolina, the militia of the colony, under the command of 
Moultrie and Marion, joined his army, and he began immediate 
operations against the Cherokees. He invaded their country, burned 
a number of their towns and villages, destroyed their growing crops, 
and had a number of small engagements with the hostiles. In the 
last battle twenty of the whites were killed and seventy were 
wounded. The condition and size of Montgomery's army were of 
such a character as to render it hazardous to advance further into 
the Indian country, and orders were sent him to retreat. This was 
done, and Colonel Montgomery returned to New York with his 
forces, except four companies that were left as part of a guard on 
the frontier to prevent an invasion of the colonies by the Indians. 
In 1756 Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia, made a treaty with 
the Cherokees in which it was agreed to build them a fort and place 
a garrison there to protect them against their aboriginal enemies, 
with the understanding that the Indians would send a number of 
their warriors to assist the English in their war against the French 
and the Northern Indians. Governor Dinwiddle gave orders to 
Major Andrew Lewis, of Augusta County, to raise a company of 
sixty men and go with them to the Cherokee country and build a 
fort. Major Lewis promptly executed the orders of the governor, 
by building a fort on the Tennessee River at a point about thirty 
miles from where the splendid city of Knoxville is now located, and 
it was named Fort Loudon. During the progress of the war between 
the Indians and the Carolina colonics, m 1 700, the Cherokees 
invested Fort Loudon with a large force and continued to besiege 
it until the garrison, from a lack of provisions and ammunition, 

T.H.-3 



34 History of Tazewell County 

was forced to surrender. It was agreed tliat the soldiers should 
return to the settlements armed and unmolested; but, while on their 
homeward march, they were suddenly and violently attacked by a 
band of Cherokees and about twenty of the whites were killed. 
The remainder, about two hundred, w^ere again made captives and 
were held until they were ransomed. The following year, 1761, 
Colonel Grant, with the four New York companies and a large 
force of militia from the Carolina provinces, invaded the Cherokee 
country and made ruthless war against its inhabitants. He gave 
them a crushing defeat in battle, laid waste their villages, and 
destroyed their crops. The natives who escaped death were driven 
into the mountains and were compelled to make an ignominious 
peace. Francis Marion, who had accompanied Colonel Montgomery 
on his expedition the year previous, was also with Colonel Grant; 
and the gallant South Carolinian afterwards wrote a very pathetic 
account of the horrors of the Grant invasion. From that time until 
after the Revolution the relations between the English colonies and 
the Cherokees continued very strained. 

Friendly intercourse with the Cherokee Indians had been culti- 
vated and maintained by the Virginjai Colonial Governmejit previous 
to the time that the pioneer settlers began to press across New 
River and locate in Southwest Virginia. Before that period the 
Indian traders and parties of hunters from Southside and Tidewater 
Virginia had journeyed through or hunted over this section; and 
had traveled in many instances on to the Cherokee settlements in 
East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, where they were 
hospitably received by the Indians. 

The Loyal Company, which had obtained a grant for 800,000 
acres of land, to be located west of the Alleghanies and north of 
the North Carolina line, had sent its explorers and surveyors into 
Southwest Virginia. Dr. Thos. Walker, who was chief surveyor 
and agent for the Loyal Company, had made repeated expeditions 
to the Holston and Clincli valleys, and had surveyed more than 
two hundred thousand acres of the most desirable lands of this 
section, located at many different points. Many boundaries had 
been sold by the company, and the purchasers were rapidly settling 
upon them. The Cherokees grew very jealous of this movement 
to deprive them of their great hunting grounds and began to mani- 
fest a hostile disposition toward the settlers in the Holston Valley. 

The Six Nations (Iroquois) of New York also claimed these 



and Southwest Virginia 35 

hunting grounds^ and in fact assorted ownership to all the Virginia 
territory west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, including the great 
Valley of Virginia. It was determined by the British Government 
to secure by treaties a cession of the territory in dispute, claimed 
by both the Iroquois and the Cherokees. In accordance with this 
plan, a treaty was made at Fort Stanwix on the 5th day of 
November, 1768,jwith the Confederacy of the Six Nations, whereby 
they ceded to the King of England a vast territory, including the 
disputed lands in Virginia. The treaty was negotiated by Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson, who was Agent and Superintendent of Indian Affairs 
for the Northern Department of America. Dr. Thos. Walker, 
Agent of the Loyal Company, was, by appointment, Commissioner 
to represent Virginia, and as such sigTied the treaty. As before 
stated the Loyal Company had sold a mimber of boundaries of land 
to settlers in the disputed territory west of New River, and was 
anxious to have both the Iroquois and the Cherokees renounce all 
claim to the territory. A number of boundaries in Tazewell County 
had been sold to different persons, among the purchasers being 
William Ingles, who had bought lands in Burke's Garden, Abbs 
Valley, and several boundaries on the headwaters of Clinch River 
from the Loyal Companj^ The Iroquois claimed title to the ceded 
territory by right of conquest. Nearly a hundred years previous 
to the making of the Fort Stanwix treaty they had invaded the 
country of the Southern Indians, and had conquered all the Southern 
tribes, from the Ohio River down as far as Georgia and east of the 
Mississippi. This included the Cherokees; and that was the reason 
why the Shawnees, who were a detached tribe of the Iroquois, dis- 
puted the right of the Cherokees to hunt in the Clinch Valley about 
the time the pioneer settlers began to arrive there. 

On the 13th of October, 1768, about three weeks previous to the 
treaty made at Fort Stanwix, John Stuart, Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs for the Southern District of North America, had met the 
chiefs of the Upper and Lower Cherokee Nations, at Hard Labor. 
South Carolina, and had concluded a treaty with them, which fixed 
the boundaries of their territory or hunting grounds in Virginia. 
By this treaty the Cherokees acquired undisputed ownersliip of all 
the region west of New River, from Colonel Chiswell's mine (lead 
mines in Wythe County) to the confluence of the Great Kanawha 
with the Ohio River. 

This treaty was very unsatisfactory to the Loyal Company and 



36 History of Tazewell County 

its agents, and to a nu mbe r of persons wlio had purchased lands 
from the eompany and settled with their families thereon. These 
settlers began to contest the right of the Cherokees to enter this 
section and assert ownership, claiming that tlie title of the Six 
Nations was superior to tliat of tlic Cherokees and that it had been 
transferred by Ihe Northern Indians to the British Government. 
Steps were taken, liowever. to make a new treaty with the Chero- 
kees ; and tliis was accomplished by Stuart at Lochaber, South 
Carolina, on the 22nd of October, 1770. B}^ the provisions of tliis 
treaty the lines fixed by the treaty at Hard Labor were so changed 
as to cede to Virginia the territory now known as Southwest Vir- 
ginia. The lines were afterwards run by Colonel DonelsoTi. who 
was appointed for tliat purpose by I^onl Botetourt, then go\( rnor 
of Virginia ; and the Indians accepted the lines as jjstablished by 
the Donelson survej'. 

From the date of the Lochaber treaty to the beginning of the 
Revolutionary ^V'ar the Cherokees remained at peace with the Vir- 
ginia ('olony. While the war, liistorically known as Dunnaore's War. 
was in progress, in 1774', there was grave apprehension among the 
settlers in the Holston Valley that the Cherokees would again make 
war u))()ti tlu' \\!iit(s. This alarm was occasioned by a small lawless 
band of wliite men led by a man named Crabtree. While on a 
hunting ex})edition on the Wautauga River in Tennessee, Crabtree. 
without )lro^•oc■ation, killed a friendly Cherokee who had been given 
the English nanu' l^illey. Major Arthur Campbell, who then had 
his fort at Royal Oak, justj^ast of Marion, the county seat of Smyth 
County, atul who was commaiultr of all the militia of Lincastle 
County west of New River, reported the_inci(lcnt to Colonel Wil- 
liam Preston, through a letter written in June, 1771'. In part, 
Major Campbell said: 

"Sir — Since the rash action of Killing a Cherokee on Wattaugo, 
the lower settlement on this, and Clynch Rivers, is greatly alarmed. 
Some preparing to move off, and indeed from the behavior of the 
Squa & Indian fellow, that Was in Company with the one that was 
Killed; we may expect a reprisal will be made shortly, if there is 
not some Men sent to cover the inhabitants, until the matter can 
be made up with the Chiefs. * * * One Crabtree is generally 
suspected to be Principal, in the late dispatching of Cherokee Billey. 
However let the consequence of the affair be what it will, I am 



and Southwest Virginia 37 

persuaded it would be easier to find 200 Men to screen liim from 
the Law, than ten to bring him to Justice ; Crabtrees different rob- 
beries, the Murder of Russell, Boons & Drakes Sons is in every 
ones mouth." 

The intimation made by Major Campbell tliat Crabtree might 
be screened from punishment for his dastardly crimes by a majority 
of the frontiersmen shows that a very peculiar condition existed on 
the frontier at that time. Kvidently there were either many bad 
men on the border, or hatred for the red men was so intense with 
the border men that they wovdd extenuate any offense, no matter 
how grave and cruel, committed against the savages. The danger 
apprehended by the settlers in the Holston Valley was happily 
averted by convincing the Cherokees that the sober-minded men on 
the Virginia border detested the conduct of Crabtree and his profli- 
gate associates. Messengers were sent to the Cherokee towns; and 
when they retui-ned to the Watauga settlement, it was with the 
assurance that the Indians would remain peaceful if Crabtree and 
his associates were repressed. This was done, and peace was main- 
tained with the Cherokees until they were incited by the British to 
join them in the War of the Revolution. 

As soon as the British Government became convinced that it was 
the purpose of the American colonies to throw off' the English 
yoke and establish an independent government, it was determined 
by the Royal Government to solicit and organize the Indians as 
allies to prosecute war against the colonies. Agents were sent to 
all the Southern tribes to arouse them against the adj acent colonies ; 
and in the spring of 1776 the Cherokees and the neighboring tribes 
had enlisted in the service of the British Government. 

Alexander Cameron was then the British agent with the Chero- 
kee Nation; and it was through his nefarious influence and by his 
procurement that these Indians became active allies of the Britisli 
Government. The chiefs and warriors were assembled together, 
and the desires of the British Government disclosed to them; and 
they were urged to make ruthless war on the white settlers. Cameron 
promised them many valuable presents and abundant supplies of 
arms and ammunition, told them they would be at liberty to })lunder 
the whites who had settled on lands that liad been taken from the 
Indians; and that their hunting grounds should be restored to tliem. 
It is not strange that tliese alluring promises enlisted the support 



38 History of Tazewell County 

of the rude natives, wlio felt they had been cruelly robbed by the 
white men. 

Three weeks after the adoption and promulgation of tlie Decla- 
ration of Independence, on the 22nd of July, 1776, President Rut- 
ledge of South Carolina notified the Virginia Council, which then 
had charge of the affairs of llie colony, that the Cherokees had 
begun hostilities against the Georgians, and the Carolinians. On 
the 26th of July, the Council of Safety of North Carolina sent 
notice to the Virginians that the Indians were preparing to make an 
attack on Colonel Chiswell's Lead Mines, in Wythe County, for 
the purpose of cutting off the Southern colonies from the supply 
of lead they were receiAdng from these mines. The Virginia Council 
determined to act promptly against the Cherokee tribes, and sent 
orders to Colonel William Preston, county lieutenant for Fincastle 
County, to erect a fort at the Lead Mines, which was done as 
promptly as possible. Another step taken by the Virginia Council 
was the organization of two battalions of militia to send into the 
Cherokee country. Colonel William Christian was made commander- 
in-chief of the military expedition as well as commander of the 
first battalion. Colonel Charles Lewis was placed in command of 
the second battalion. 

In October, 1776, Colonel Christian assembled his small army 
at Long Island on the Holston River. His entire force numbered 
but 2,000 men, of whom 400 came from North Carolina. With but 
little delay the march was commenced toward the Indian towns in 
the mountains of North Carolina. The expedition was uninterrupted 
until the army arrived at a crossing of the French Broad River. 
There a force of about 3,000 Cherokees, with a few Creeks and 
Tories, were waiting to give battle to Colonel Christian's forces. 
From fear, or for some other cause, the Indians retreated in the 
night time and returned to their homes. Colonel Christian followed 
them to their towns, where he remained for two weeks, and had his 
men burn the cabins and destroy the corn and other supplies of the 
Indians. The Cherokees were thoroughly cowed and sued for peace. 
They proposed to surrender all the prisoners they were holding, 
to restore the horses and other property they had taken from the 
white settlers, and to relinquish all claim to the lands the settlers 
were already occupying. On these terms a truce was effected, and 
Colonel Christian returned v»itli his forces to Virginia. The fol- 
lowing spring a treaty of peace was concliuled between the Upper 



and Southwest Virginia 39 

Cherokee Nation and Virginia and North Carolina at the Great 
Island of Holston River. 

After the making of the treaty at Great Island there were 
sporadic outbreaks against the settlers that continued at intervals 
until the Revolutionary War terminated. During this period several 
bands of the Cherokees moved down the Tennessee River and formed 
settlements at Chickamauga and at different points on the Ten- 
nessee-Alabama line. In 1779 the British agents persuaded one of 
the Chickamauga bands, who were led by Chief Dragging Canoe, to 
commence preparations for attacks on the frontier settlements of 
North Carolina and Virginia. To meet these threatened attacks 
the two States jointly organized a force of volunteers; and Colonel 
Evan Shelby was put in command of them. He assembled his army 
at the mouth of Big Creek on the Clinch River, near where Rogers- 
ville, Tennessee, is now located. There, Shelby was joined by a 
regiment of men, commanded by Colonel John Montgomery, and 
who had been enlisted to be used as a reinforcement to General 
Clark, then operating against the British in the Illinois country. 
Shelby built canoes for his small army and traveled in that way 
down the Tennessee River until he arrived at Chickamauga. The 
arrival of Shelby and his army was a great surprise to the Indians. 
A large amount of supplies that had been furnished the Indians by 
the British, valued at one lumdred thousand dollars, was captured, 
the towns were destroyed, and tlie liorses and cattle of the Indians 
were driven back to the settlements. Shelby then destroyed his 
fleet of canoes and marched his army back to the settlements on 
foot. This was the last expedition of note made by the Virginia 
settlers exclusively against the Cherokees. 

At last the mountaineer Indians of the Soutliern Alleghanies 
were subdued and made to acknowledge the sovereignty of the 
United States. This was accomplished by a treaty made on the 28th 
of November, 1785. Under this treaty the Cherokees were given 
assured unmolested possession of their hunting grounds. "Then 
began the ever-recurring story of white man's encroachments and 
red man's resistance, with the ultimate advantage on the side of the 
intruders." By treaties made in 1791 and 1798 the Cherokees were 
forced to surrender large portions of tlieir territory to greedy white 
men and many of their people emigrated west of the Mississippi. 

Just about the beginning of the eighteenth century Moravian 
nn'ssionaries beuau their work amoni;; the Cherokees and the Indians 



40 Historv of TazcwoU County 

were- rapidly heconiing civilizt-d and Chi-istiaTii/t'd. but. rt-gardless 
of the fact tliat the Cherokees liad rendered valuable service to the 
United States in the war witli England in 1812-15. the white men 
of Georgia demanded the removal of those of the tribe who still 
remained in tliat State. Drastic laws against the treaty rights of 
the red men were enacted by the Legislature of Georgia; and the 
Federal Government ))roclaimed its inability to maintain its treaty 
obligations. Gold had been discovered within the territory of the 
Cherokee Nation near the present Dahlonega, Georgia. This dis- 
covery greatly increased the clamor of the white men for the removal 
of the Indians to another section of the country. After a prolonged 
but hopeless struggle, which was led by John Ross, the great chief 
of the Nation, they were compelled to submit to the white man's 
greed and give up their lands and homes. 

On the 28th of December, 1835, a treaty was made by which the 
Cherokees sold the entire territory they still possessed, and they 
agreed to move to the country set apart for them in the Indian 
Territory. The removal took place during the winter of 1838-39: 
but was not accomplished without much resistance on the part of 
the unwilling Indians, and the infliction of many cruelties by the 
white men. They were driven from their homes by military force; 
and in the progress of their tragic exodus, by estimate, lost in 
various ways one-fourth of their entire tribe. Upon their arrival 
in the Indian Territory they reorganized their government, which 
had first been formed in 1820 and modeled after the government 
of the United States. At the time the main body of the tribe was 
removed, several hundred of the unfortunate and persecuted people 
fled to the wildest mountain sections of North Carolina, where they 
remained unmolested vmtil 1812. Then, at the earnest solicitation of 
a trader named William H. Thomas, the refugees were granted 
])ermission to remain in Western North Carolina, and lands were 
set apart for their occupati(m and use. A number of their d-^scend- 
ants are now living in Swain and Jackson counties of that State on 
what is known as the Qualla Reservation. 

Since the Cherokees settled upon their reservation west of the 
Mississippi they have made marvelous advancement in education 
and material ])r()sperity. In 1821 a mixed blood. Sequoya by name, 
invented a Cherokee alphabet, and gave his nation a position in the 
literary world, as their books and newspapers have since been 
priiil cd in []\v\v own language. Sc(|uoya was llu- son of a whit'' 



ami Soutlnvcst Virginia 



41 



man and a Ciierokeo woman of mixed blood. She was the daughter 
of a ehief. Sequoya was born in the Cherokee town of Taskigi, 
Tennessee, about the year 17G0. and was, therefore, more than three 
seore 3-ears old when he made the splendid invention for. his people. 




Tlie iil)(>ve i>^ :i jturtriiit <il' Sequoya, and is made from a photograph 
of the bronze statue of the ji'i'eat Indian that was phiced in Statuary 
Hall in vlie National Capitol, and unveiled June Gth, 11)17. The statue 
was placed there to represent Oklahoma. On the left is a marble statue 
of Daniel Webster, representing Massachusetts, and on the right a 
marble statue of Stephen I'uiler Austin, who was the founder of the 
State of Texas. Austin was born in AVytlie County. Va. The author 
is indebted to Senator Uobt. L. Owen, of Oklahoma, for the photograph 
from which the aliove cut was made. 

When the Civil War began, a majority of the Cherokees enlisted 
in tlie service of the Southern Confederacy. Many of them were 
slave owners and were, therefore, under Southern inHuence; and 
Ihcv may have rcnu inhered that the I'nited States Go\ ernment had 



42 History of Tazewell County 

repeatedly violated its treaty obligations, and had finally driven 
them from their cherished homes in the Southern Alleghanies. 
Some of the tribe adhered to the National Government. Their 
territory was overrun by both Confederate and Federal military 
forces, and, as a consequence, they were in a very prostrate condition 
at the close of the war. By a treaty made in 1867 the Cherokees 
were again brought under the protection of the Federal Government. 
In 1867 the Delawares, and in 1870 the Shawnees, who had been 
living in Kansas, moved to the Indian Territory. Combined, the 
two tribes numbered 1,750 souls, and they incorporated with the 
Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee Commission was created in 1889 
for abolishing the tribal governments and opening the Territory 
to white settlers. Negotiations to that end were carried on for 
fifteen years before a final arrangement was made by which the 
government of the Cherokee Nation was abolished on the 3rd of 
Marcli, 1906. Following this, the Indian lands were divided, and 
the Cherokees, both native and adopted, were made citizens of the 
United States. The Cherokee Nation now numbers 4'1,824< persons, 
and is composed as follows: By blood, 36,432; by intermarriage, 
286; Delawares. 187; Freedmen, 4,919. Of these 8,703 are full 
blood, 4,778 one-lialf or more, and 23,427 less than half blood. 

THE SHAWNEES. 

A concise narrative of the origin and performances of the Shaw- 
nee tribe of Indians should be of special interest to the people of 
the Clinch Valley, and to all persons who have been connected in 
any manner witli this historic section of Virginia. Though the 
Cherokees asserted superior title or right to this region, and may. 
possibly, have occupied it for a considerable period to the exclusion 
of all other tribes of the aborigines, the Shawnees included, there 
is no satisfactory evidence, visible or tangible, which proves that 
the Cherokees ever used it for any other purpose than a hunting- 
ground. It is also an undisputed fact that the Shawnees never visited 
the Clinch Valley with the intention of making their homes there. 

The Shawnees were for a long while a difficult problem to inves- 
tigators of the different families and tribes of the North American 
Indians. Many theories liave been advanced as to their origin, their 
earliest location, and their relationship and associations with other 
tribes of their race. J?ut on account of the indefinite character of 
their uanic. their innate disjiosition to wander .-ind fo confine their 



and Southwest Virginia 43 

wanderings to the unexplored interior^ none of the theories of the 
investigators have been accepted with perfect confidence. Philol- 
ogists have agreed that linguistically the Shawnee belongs to the 
Central Algonquian dialect; and all investigators have confidently 
announced that the tribe is a branch of the great Algonquian family 
which at one time occupied the larger portion of the present terri- 
tory of the United States lying east of the Mississippi River and 
south of Canada. The Shawnees have been called "The Southern 
advance guard of the Algonquian stock." Beyond this it has been 
found useless to try to trace the origin of the tribe or to place them 
in a location other than that they occupied when they first became 
known to men of the white race, or in which their indefinite tradi- 
tions may locate them. Their known historj^ has been traced back 
pretty clearly to 1660-70. They were then divided into two distinct 
colonies or bands. One of these was located in the Cumberland 
Basin in Tennessee, and the other on the Middle Savannah in South 
Carolina. These two divisions remained sepai-ate until nearly a 
century later, when they got together as one band in Ohio, prior to 
Dunmore's War in 1774. This peculiar separation of an Indian 
tribe into two divisions, living so widely apart, has puzzled and 
confused most of the students of the Indian race. The only reason- 
able explanation offered for this anomalous condition is that the 
country situated between the two colonies of the Shawnees was 
inhabited by the Cherokees. At that time the two nations were 
enjoying the friendliest relations as neighbors and kinsmen. It is 
also known that the Cherokees had in the past exercised dominion 
over the territory in Tennessee and in South Carolina on which the 
two divisions of the Shawnees were living, and had invited the 
nomads of their race to cease their wanderings and make settlements 
on these lands. This view of the matter is strengthened by knowl- 
edge of the fact that there is substantial evidence that the two 
nations intermingled freely and intimately for many years, both in 
South Carolina and Tennessee. It is further sustained by the fact 
that the Cherokees resumed possession, under claim of former owner- 
ship, of the country in South Carolina and in Tennessee vacated 
by the Shawnees when they were forced to again become homeless 
wanderers and traveled toward the North. 

The Shawnees who lived in South Carolina were there in 1670, 
and were there when the first settlement was made by the whites 
in that province. They were known to the colonists as the Savan- 



44 History of Tazewoll County 

nalis, and for a long period were the friends of tlie white settlers. 
In 1(595 Governor Archdale spoke of them as "Good friends and 
useful neighbors of the English." Their prineipal village was 
situated on the Savannah River^ and was called Savannah Town. 
They gradually moved away from South Carolina on aceoiuil of the 
unjust treatment they were receiving from the white men. Adair, 
in his history, says that the Shawnees lived on the Sa\annah River 
"Till by our foolish measures they were forced to withdraw North- 
ward in defense of their freedom." And further • says: "By our 
own misconduct we twice lost the Shawnee Indians, who have since 
proved very hurtful to our colonists in general." In 1(590 they 
began to move from South Carolina. Some of them settled in the 
Valley of Virginia about where Winchester is located, and others 
journeyctl on to the Cumberland Valley in Maryland. Subsequent 
to tiieir arrival at these places, they each built villages, one on the 
present site of Winchester and the other at Oldtown, near Cumber- 
land, Maryland. A part of the tribe that migrated from South 
Carolina joined the Mohicans, and became identified with them. 
Others, who had settled on the Delaware, removed to the ^^'yoming 
Valley in Pennsylvania. A short time thereafter they were joined 
by a small band who had located at a point on the Susquehanna 
River in the })resent county of Lancaster. Pennsyhania. In 1 7 iO 
the Quakers began missionary work among the Shawnees at Wyom- 
ing; and in 1712 Zinzindorf, the zealous Moravian missionary, joined 
the Quakers in their effort to convert and civilize these restless 
aborigines. Under the gracious influence of these excellent Christian 
workers the savage impulses of the Shawnee warriors in Pennsyl- 
vania were suppressed; and for a long time they remained neutral 
in the French and Indian ^^'ar, which began in 175t, tiiough their 
kindred in Ohio were actively engaged as allies of the French 
against the English. 

Owing to the fact that the Western Shawnees were inhabiting 
the Cumberland Basin, a region that was isolated and not in the 
usual course traveled by the European explorers, this branch of the 
tribe was but little known to whit'." men until after the year 1714. 
In that year a French trader by the name of Charleville went 
among them at one of their villages located near the present Nash- 
ville, Tennessee. They were then being gradually driven from the 
Cumberland region by the Cherokees and the Chickasaws, with 
whom, for some unknown cause, they had become inxolved in war. 



and Southwest Virginia 45 

Soon after Charleville arrived among tliem in his capacity of trader, 
they abandoned the Cumberland Valley, and again became wan- 
derers. They roamed around in Kentucky for about fifteen years. 
That country, being unoccupied by any other tribe, was an ideal 
hunting ground. It was peculiarly suited to the Shawnees, who 
were passionately fond of hunting and greatly averse to agriculture. 
Blackhoof, one of their most noted chiefs, was born while they 
were living at a village near where Winchester, Kentucky, is now 
located. About 17o0 they began to cross over into Ohio and to 
make settlements on the Ohio River, in Ohio and Pennsylvania, 
their settlements extending from the Alleghany down to the Scioto. 
They built a number of villages along the river, among them being 
Sawcunk, Logstown. and I>owertown. In 1718 the Shawnees on the 
Ohio, by estimate, had 1()2 warriors or about six hundred persons in 
that division. A few years later their kindred left the Susquehanna 
in Pennsylvania and joined them in the Ohio Valley. The two 
divisions, one formerly located on the Savannah River, and the 
other in the Cumberland Basin of Tennessee, were united into one 
tribe for the first time after they became known in history. 

Following their reunion on the Ohio River, the history of the 
Shawnee tribe became a part of the eventful history oi that ])ortion 
of Vii'ginia lying west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and south of the 
Ohio River; and also of the splendid Northwestern domain, extend- 
ing nortli to the Lakes and westward to the Mississi])))!. wliich was 
presented to the United States by Virginia in 178.'}. 

From the middle of the eighteenth century until the treaty of 
Greenville, made in 1795. the Shawnees were almost constantly hos- 
tile to either the English or the Americans. In 1754 what has 
always been called the I'rencli and Indian War by historians was 
begun. The Shawnees in that war were most efficient allies of the 
French, who were engaged in a mighty struggle with the English 
for supremacy in North America. They were the most vital force 
of the French army that gave such a humiliating defeat to the 
British army, commanded by General Braddock, in a battle fought 
near Fort Du Quesne on June 19th. 1755. George Washington pai- 
ticipated in the battle as aide-de-camp to General Braddock; and he 
was singled out by a Shawnee chief and his band of warriors as 
a special target for their rifles. They fired a number of volleys 
at the intrepid young Virginian, killed iwo horses under him and 
put four bullets through his coat, but Washington made a marvelous 



46 History of Tazewell County 

escape from death to afterwards beeome the beloved "Father of 
his Country." 

Tlic Frencli and Indian War was not finally concluded on land 
until 17()0; and the Shawnees were hostile to the English all through 
the protracted conflict. After France, in 1763, ceded her entire 
possessions in North America east of the Mississippi, save New 
Orleans, to the English, the Indian tribes of the North, including 
the Shawnees, ceased for a brief period making attacks upon the 
English colonies. But the acquisition of New France by Great 
Britain gave only temporary rest to the western frontiers of Vir- 
ginia. Reckless frontiersmen, both from Virginia and Pennsylvania, 
persisted in committing outrageous depredations upon the Indians 
who lived in the Ohio Valley; and the pioneer settlers continued to 
invade and appropriate the hunting grounds of the natives. The 
treaty of Fort Stanwix, in 1768, and that of Lochaber, in 1770, had 
accorded the red men lawful possession of all the lands in Virginia 
beyond the Cumberland Mountains and north of the Ohio River. 
Encroachments by the white men and reprisals on the part of the 
exasperated red men finally brought on the war called ETunmore's 
War. It was almost exclusively a war between the Shawnees and 
the Virginians who lived west of the Blue Ridge and Alleghany 
Mountains, and was of short duration. There was but one battle 
and it was fought at Po int Pleasa nt, where the Ohio and the 
Kanawha rivers come togethgl*. The Virginians were commanded 
by Colonel Andrew Lewis, and one company was composed of 
pioneer settlers from the Clinch Valley, who were under the com- 
mand of CajDtain William Russell. 

A little less than two years after the battle at Point Pleasant 
the momentous struggle between the American colonists and the 
mother country began, and the British Government experienced 
very little difficulty in enlisting the support of the Shawnees against 
tlie colonies. During the Revolutionary period, and for some years 
thereafter, these Indians were the implacable foes of the Virginians ; 
and wrought bloody havoc upon the settlers in the Clinch Valley 
and in Kentucky. Nearly all the expeditions sent by the Americans 
across the Ohio while the Revolution was in progress were directed 
against the Shawnees. With British guidance and support they 
made stubborn resistance to the Americans, but finally were driven 
from the Scioto Valley and retired to the head of the Miami River, 
from which region the Miami tribe had withdrawn a few years 



and Southwest Virginia 47 

previous. After the Revolution was over, having lost the support 
of the British, a large band of the Shawnees joined the Cherokees 
and Creeks in the South, these two tribes then being very hostile 
to the Americans. Anotlier small band united with a part of the 
Delawares and accepted an invitation from the Spaniards to settle 
at a point near Cape Girardeau, Missouri, between the Mississippi 
and Whitewater rivers. Those who remained in Ohio continued to 
give the American Government much trouble through the years 
1791-92-93. In 1791 General Arthur St. Clair, then governor of 
the Northwestern Territory, found it necessary to undertake an 
expedition with the intention of destroying tlie Indian villages on 
the Miami. On the ith of November, 1791, he came in contact witli 
the hostiles at a point about fifteen miles from their villages. The 
Indians had a large force and gave General St. Clair a crushing and 
humiliating defeat. The American loss in the engagement was 
thirty-eight officers and five hundred and ninety-three men killed, 
and twenty-one officers and two hundred and forty-two men wounded. 
This frightfid reverse was a severe shock to both the Government 
and the American people. General St. Clair, who had made a bril- 
liant record in the Revolution, was so humiliated by his terrible 
defeat that he resigned as governor of the Territory. General 
Anthony Wayne M^as appointed to the vacancy caused by the resig- 
nation of St. Clair. In Augnist, 179'i, "Mad Anthony," at the head 
of three thousand men, marched against the Indians on the Miami. 
On the 14th of the month he arrived with his army at the Rapids, 
and made an ineffectual effort to negotiate a peace with the Indians. 
They were so inflated with their success over General St. Clair that 
they rejected General Wayne's proposition with contempt. On 
the morning of the 20th the Americans made a rapid advance upon 
the Indians and soon routed and put them to flight. For three days 
General Wayne kept his men busily engaged destroying the houses 
and corn fields of the enemy in that vicinity, and a few days later 
he proceeded to lay waste their entire territory. Wayne's signal 
victory so thoroughly cowed the Indians that he had no difficulty 
in making a satisfactory treaty with them in 1795, by which they 
were forced to surrender their lands on the Miami and retire to 
the headwaters of Anglaize River, still further to the northwest. 
The more hostile part of the tribe left Ohio, crossed the Mississippi 
and joined their kindred who had settled at Cape Girardeu, in 
Missouri. 



48 History of Tazewell County 

Tlu' Sliawiu'cs still luUl llif position of leading tribe of the 
American aborigines inhabiting the country between the Ohio and 
the Wabash. Tecumseh was their chief ^ and he waSj beyond a doubt^ 
the greatest leader the tribe had ever produced. He had a brother^ 
Tenskawatawa, who was called the Prophet, and who pretended 
to be in communication with the spirit-world and to receive reve- 
lations therefrom. The Prophet secux*ed the confidence of the 
superstitious members of his own and of neighboring tribes, and 
gathei'ed a large number of followers in his village at the mouth of 
the Tippecanoe Iliver. Tecumseh and his brother had originated a 
plan for uniting all the tribes of the Northwestern Territory in a 
desperate effort to tlu-ow back the invading white settlers, and pre- 
vent further encroachments upon the territory of the Indians. 

In September, 1809, General Harrison, then governor of the 
Indiana Territory, gathered the chiefs of several tribes togetiier and 
purchased from them three million acres of land. Tecumseh not 
only refused to sign the treaty, but declared he would kill any of 
the chiefs who affixed their names to the paper. He was encouraged 
in this course of resistance by the British, as England was then 
involved in a controversy with United States which eventuated in 
the War of 1812. In 1811 Tecumseh, at the instigation of the 
British Government, made a visit to the Cherokees and other 
Southern tribes to enlist their support of his aimounced purpose 
to drive back the white settlers, who seemed determined to keep 
driving the Indians further and still further west. Demands had 
already been made by Tecumseh and the leaders of other tribes 
for an abrogation of the Fort Wayne treaty and a relinquishment 
of the lands ceded thereby to the United States. This demand was 
promptly rejected by Governor Harrison. Every movement of 
Tecumseh and the Prophet showed that hostilities could not be 
avoided by the Americans, and tlie Government ordered Cxeneral 
Harrison to take immediate steps for the protection of the frontiers 
from attack. He promptly assembled a force of three thousand 
men, composed of regulars and militia, at Vincennes; and marched 
into the Indians' country. On the (ith of November he appeared 
before the town of the Prophet, and on the following mornmg, tlie 
7th of November, 1811, the celebrated battle of Tippecanoe was 
fought and a glorious victory was won by the Americans. After 
destroying the town of the Pi-ophet, General Harrison marched his 



and Soutliwest Virginia 



49 



victorious army back to Vinceimes. Tlif power of the Prophet was 
broken, and the Indians submissively' sued for peace. 

Upon his return fron\ the South, Tecuraseh found all his plans 
had been wrecked by the premature battle of Tippecanoe; and he 
remained in comparative seclusion until the breaking out of the 
War of 1812. He then gathered his forces, some two thousand in 
number, and joined the British army in Canada. There he was 
received most cordiaJlv anil was distinctlv honored bv being made 




Above is shown n portrait of Tecumseh (properly Tihfniitlii or 
Tecumtha, meanint;- "Crouchiuij; I'aiitlier" and "Shooting Star"). He 
was born in 1768 at the Shawnee viUage of Piqua, about six miles south- 
west of the present city of Springfiekl, Ohio. The portrait is made from 
a print furnished the author hy the Bureau of Elhnology ; and Tecumseh 
is dressed in his uniform of a Pritish hrlgadier general. He was killed 
at the battle of the Tlianies on Octoher .'ith. 1813. The shot that killed 
Tecumseh was fired by Ptichard Mentor Johnson, a native Virginian, but 
then a resident of Kentuckv. He was Vice-President of the United 
States 1837-1841. 

a brigadier general in the British army. He proved himself a most 
valuable ally of the British, and fought gallantly at Frenchtown, 
The Raisin, Fort Meigs, and Fort Stephenson. After Ctmnnodore 
Perry defeated tiie British on Lake Erie, Tecumseh covered tl)e 
retreat of General Proctor very effectively, but insisted when the 
army arrived at the Thames that the British general should make 
a stand at that river. This was done, and on the 5th of October, 
1813, the battle of the Thames was fought, resulting in the over- 
whelming defeat of the allied English and Indian forces by' the 

T.H.-4 



50 History of Tazewell County 

.Americans, who were under the command of General William Henry 
Harrison. 

Tecumseh had a presentiment that he would be killed in the 
battle. This caused him to discard his general's uniform and to 
array himself in the deerskin dress of an Indian chief. The presen- 
timent came true, and Tecumseh, the greatest Indian character in 
American history, fell in front of his warriors while urging them 
on to battle with the Americans. The war spii-it of the Shawnees, 
and other Northwestern tribes who had come under his influence, 
was completely crushed by the death of Tecumseh; and very soon 
thereafter most of the tribes accepted the terms of peace offered by 
General Harrison. 

The division of the Shawnee tribe which had settled some twenty 
years previously in Missouri did not participate in the War of 1812; 
and in 1825 they, sold their lands in Missouri and moved to a reserva- 
tion in Kansas. ,In 1831 the small band who had remained in Ohio 
sold their lands and joined those who had migrated to Kansas. The 
mixed band of Shawnees and Senecas at Louiston, Ohio, also moved 
to Kansas about the same time. About the year 184)5 the larger 
part of the tribe left Kansas and settled on the Canadian River in 
the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) where they are known as the 
"Absentee Shawnees." In 1867 that part of the tribe that was 
living with the Senecas moved from Kansas to the Indian Territory, 
and they are now known as the "Eastern Shawnees." The main 
body of the tribe in 1869, by an intertribal agreement, was incor- 
porated with the Cherokee Nation, with whom they are now residing 
in the State of Oklahoma. 

In 1910 the Eastern Shawnees numbered 107; the Absentee 
Shawnees 481 ; and those who became a part of the Cherokee Nation 
were about 800, making a total of about 14<00 for the entire tribe 
in Oklahoma. The latest estimates given in the 1916 report of the 
Commissioner of Indian Affairs show that the Eastern Shawnees 
numbered 152, of whom only 4 are full blood, 26 one-half blood or 
more, and 122 less than half blood. From this same report it is 
seen that the number of Absentee Shawnees is 569, of whom 472 
are full blood, 80 are half blood, or more; and 17 less than half 
blood. The 800 Shawnees who were incorporated with the Chero- 
kees in 1869 seem to liave lost their identity as a tribe, and from 
intermarriage or adoption are now regarded as Cherokees. 

The latest Government estimate places the entire Shawnee popu- 



and Southwest Virginia 51 

lation in Oklahoma at 3,752. Of these 2,746 speak the English 
language, 2,535 read and write the English language, 3,031 wear 
citizen's clothing, 3,053 are citizens of the United States, and 816 
are voters. These things show that the once fierce wandering tribe 
is beginning to yield to the force of European civilization, and is 
gradually becoming absorbed by the American Nation. This happy 
result has come from proper treatment of the nomads by the Govern- 
ment, and is largely due to supplying them with schools. 

VIRGINIA INDIANS THE PAMUNKEYS. 

It may be said that too much space and effort have been given 
to the Aboriginal Period of a history that was intended primarily 
to be local in character. However, my work will be incomplete if 
no mention is made of the tribes that were living in Virginia east 
of the Blue Ridge when the English settlement was made at 
Jamestown. 

Captain John Smith, who was undoubtedly the most important 
figure and character among the first settlers at Jamestown, is con- 
sidered by all historians very accurate in what he wrote about those 
portions of Virginia of which he had knowledge. He states that 
there were forty-three tribes in that part of the present Common- 
wealth that lies east of the Blue Ridge. Of these numerous tribes 
there are now only remnants of three left in the State, the Pamunkey, 
the Chickahominy, and the Mattapony; and none of the members 
of these tribes are of full blood. 

The scholarly men who have investigated the origin and names 
of the various tribes of the American race say that the name Pamun- 
key is derived from pain, which means sloping, or slanting; and anki, 
which means hill, or rising upland. This refers to a tract of land 
in what is now King William County, Virginia, beginning at the 
junction of the Pamunkey and Mattapony rivers. There is a sloping 
hill or rising upland on this tract, and from this the Pamunkeys 
received their tribal name. CajDtain Smith said: "Where the river 
is di voided the country is called Pamunke." 

At the time the settlement was made at Jamestown, in 1607, the 
Pamunkey Indians were the leading tribe of the Powhatan Confed- 
eracy ; and they were then living about the j unction of the Pamunkey 
and Mattapony rivers in the present King William County. Cap- 
tain Smith then estimated their number at nearly 300 warriors or 
a total of 1,000 persons. Their principal town, which was destroyed 



52 Iliytoi-}' of Tazewell County 

by the Englisli colonists in 1(525. was near the present West Point. 
Virginia, at the junction of the two rivers. In 1722 they numbered 
about two hundred, and in 1781, Thomas Jefferson estimated tliem 
at about sixty persons of tolerably pure blood. 

They were very liostile to tlie English colonists after the death 
of Powhatan, until the death of their chief Opechancanough. and 
their frequent conflicts with the white men greatly reduced tlieir 
numbers. But in 1(551 they assisted the English in repelling an 
invasion made by the tribes from the mountains ; and in this war lost 
their chief. Totopotomoi, and (me hundred of their warriors. In 
1675, their queen, who bore the title of "Queen Anne," widow of 
Totopotomoi, aided Governor Berkeley against the rebels in Bacon's 
rebellion. For this service the Indian queen received special recog- 
nition from the English Government. In 1722 they numbered onl}- 
about 200, and by a treaty were put upon a reservation of three 
hundred acres in a bend of the Pamunkey River in King William 
County, opposite the historic place known as White House. They 
still occupy this same reservation and maintain their tribal organi- 
zation under State supervision. The population is entirely of mixed 
blood and numbers about one hundred and fifty of both sexes. They 
live chiefly by hunting and fishing, but engage in farming in a 
sniall way. 

THE CHICKAIIOMINY INDIANS. 

The Chickahominy tribe was one of the strongest and most 
important in Virginia when the settlement was made at Jamestown 
in 1607. It was connected with the Powhatan Confederacy, but 
was not as much subject to the control of the so-called emperor as 
were the other tribes that reco'gnized him as their ruler. They were 
living on the Chickahominy River when the colony was planted at 
Jamestown, and the tribe then had about 250 warriors, or, perhaps, 
some nine hundred persons of all ages and sexes. As early as 1613 
they formed an alliance with the English settlers and assumed the 
name of Tassantessus, or Englishmen. There is now a band of mixed 
blood, numbering about 225 persons, who are the descendants of the 
ancient tribe, but with no regular tribal organization. They live on 
a reservation on both sides of the Chickahominy River in the coun- 
ties of New Kent and Charles City; and are intimately associated 
with the Pamunkey and Mattapony tribes. Their principal pursuits 
are Iiunting and fishing. 



and Southwest Virp;inia 53 



THE MATTAFONY. 

Tliere was a small tribe living on the river which is now called 
Mattapony. in Virginia. This tribe had the same name as the river 
upon which they lived. Captain John Smitli on his map gave the 
name "Mattapanient" to the town in which they lived, and it was 
located in the iipj^er part of the present James City County, near 
the mouth of Chickahominy River. It was a very small tribe but 
a member of the Powhatan Confederac}'. In 1608, the year after the 
settlement at Jamestown, the tribe had only thirty men, or a total 
of perhaps one hundred persons. In 1781, according to Jefferson, 
they numbered only fifteen or twenty and were largely of negro 
blood. According to the last census there were about fifty persons 
of mixed blood living on a small State reservation on the south side 
of the Mattapony River, in King William County. They are closely 
related to the Pamunkey tribe, whose reservation is only ten miles 
distant. 

THK INDIANS IN TAZEWELL COUNTY. 

In that Chapter of his history entitled "Introduction To Indian 
Wars of Tazewell," Bickley says: 

"I have thought proper to trace the history of the Indians, who 
have, since 1539, inhabited Southwestern Virginia. These have 
been the Xualans, Shawnees, and Cherokees, the latter of whom 
will not be noticed at length. History, indeed, throws but little 
light on this interesting subject, yet, I imagine, more than is gen- 
erally supposed." 

Dr. Bickley permitted his imagination to get away with him 
when he asserted that a mythical tribe ^called Xualans and the Shaw- 
nees, in succession, inhabited Southwest Virginia since 1539, until 
the coming here of the whites. He also drew largely on his imagin- 
ation by asserting that De Soto with his band of explorers visited 
the Upper Holston and Clinch Valley regions, that is, "the counties 
of Tazewell and Washington, Va., as early as 1540." The Bureau 
of American Ethnology, which, in the Handbook of American 
Indians, gives the names of the hundreds of tribes and thousands 
of subordinate tribes that inhabited the North American Continent 
during tlie many centuries preceding the coming of the white men 
to the continent, makes no mention of the Xualans. The Handbook 



54 History of Tazewell County 

is compiled from the investigations made by numbers of the most 
learned and diligent ethnologists, archaeologists, and investigators 
of the Indian race, and none of these found any traces of the 
so-called Xualan tribe. Bancroft, the diligent researcher and 
America's greatest historian, says not one word about the Xualans. 
There is no existing reliable evidence to prove that a tribe called 
Xualans ever inhabited Southwest Virginia. Nor is there anything 
to show that any part of Tazewell County was occupied at any time 
by any portion of either the Cherokee or Shawnee tribes for other 
purposes than hunting grounds. The Cherokees were chiefly an 
agricultural people, and they built their permanent homes in a 
milder climate, where the land was easier cleared of the forests and 
the soil more easily tilled than in this section of Virginia. When 
the first settlers came to the Clinch Valley they found the whole 
region a dense forest, abounding in trees that were of five hundred 
or a thousand years' growth. No marks were discovered on the soil 
showing that it had ever been cultivated by the Indians, and no 
implements, even of the rudest kind, have been found here that wert 
used by the aborigines for agricultural purposes. 

To support his claim that an extinct tribe called the Xualans, 
once occupied the Clinch Valley, Bickley says: that traces of many 
forts and towns were to be seen in 1852 in Southwest Virginia. 
He says: 

"These cannot be Cherokee forts, though they captured the 
Xualans, and hence became masters of the country, for they do not 
build forts in the same manner; beside, the trees growing on some 
of them, prove, beyond doubt, that they have been evacuated three 
hundred years. That they were towns as well as forts, is proven 
by the existence of many fragments of earthenware, etc., found on 
or around them, and from their shape and general location they 
were certainl}' forts." 

"They were circular, var3'ing in size from three hundred to six 
hundred feet in diameter. An embankment of earth was thrown 
up some five or six feet, and, perhaps, this mounted by palisades. 
A few of these towns or forts were built of stone and sometimes 
trenches surrounded them. A stone fort of great size, stood in 
Abb's Valley, in Tazewell County, Virginia, and has but lately been 
removed. * * * The remains of a remarkable fort are to be 
seen on the lands of Mr. Crockett, near Jeffersonville, having evident 



and Southwest Virginia 55 

traces of trenches, and something like a drawbridge. This fort has 
been evacuated, judging from the timber on it, over two hundred 
years." 

These forts or fortifications were either built by the Cherokees or 
some one of the tribes that contested with them the right to use 
the Clinch Valley as a hunting ground. More than two hundred 
years before the time Bickley was engaged in writing the history 
of Tazewell County, the Iroquois had driven the Cherokees from 
their hunting grounds in what is now known as Southwest Virginia; 
and the Northern Indians held dominion over this territory for 
many years. In fact, they claimed it by right of conquest until they 
ceded it to Great Britain by the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768. 
Both the CheVokees and the Iroquois built just such fortifications 
as Bickley describes and of which there were remains seen in 1852. 
The Cherokees built similar forts in Ohio before they migrated to the 
South; and the Iroquois built them in New York. The prehistoric 
remains mentioned by Bickley were, no doubt, originally fortifica- 
tions constructed by hunting parties of one or the other of these 
tribes, while they were hunting here in the summer or fall season. 

In the eighteenth century the Cherokees and Shawnees asserted 
very fiercely rival claims to the Clinch Valley; and, no doubt, had 
many bloody encounters over the question as to who should occupy 
it. The last encounter between these two tribes took place in 1768; 
and the battle was fought on the top of Rich Mountain just west 
of Plum Creek Gap, and about three miles southwest of the town 
of Tazewell. Tradition says that about two hundred Cherokee 
warriors participated in the battle, and the inference is that the 
Shawnees had a superior force, as they were the attacking party. 
On the occasion of this battle the Cherokees protected their position 
on the top of the mountain with a temporary breastwork or fort. 
Bickley says: "It consisted of a simple embankment, about three 
or four feet high, running east and west along the top of the moun- 
tain about eighty yards, and then turning off at right angles to the 
north or down the mountain side. The Shawanoes commenced the 
ascent of the mountain before night of the first day, but finding 
their enemies so strongly fortified, withdrew and posted themselves 
in a position to commence the attack early the following morning." 

The emergency fort built by the Cherokees on the top of Rich 
Mountain was so similar in feature to the for t in A bb's Valley and 



56 



Histor\' of Tazewell Countv 



the one on Mr. Crockett's plaee near .letler.sonville, that it warrants 
the belief that these two were also emergency forts, that they were 
built by the Cherokees to protect themselves against a superior foe, 
and not for permanent occupation. This was the last battle between 
the Indians that took place in Tazewell, and the last in which the 
Cherokees and Shawnees were engaged as foes. Though the battle 
was fought one hundred and fifty years ago, traces of the breast- 
works, hastily erected by the Cherokees, are still plainly discern- 




Tlie nbove scene is u historic one. It, is made from a photograph of 
Phim Creek Valley, as it now appears, Miiere the first settlements were 
made in Tazewell County. The camera was placed a short distance 
north of the residence of the late T. E. George; and Thomas Witten, 
the first settler, built his cabin in 1767 about half a mile west of the 
hay rick shown in the picture. Looking southward. Rich Mountain is 
seen ; and the little black cross marks "Battle Knob", where the Chero- 
kees and Shawnees fought their last battle in 1768. Some two miles 
west of Rattle Knob can be seen "Morris' Knol)", which has an elevation 
of 4,510 feet above sea level. The view from IVIon-is' ICnob is one of 
the grandest on the North American Continenr. 

ib!e. This strongly substantiates the theory lliat the forts mentioned 
by Biekley were built for emergency defence by either the Chero- 
kees or the Iroquois, wlio, no doubt, engaged in frequent encounters 
for tlic possession of the splendid hunting grounds in the Clinch 
V^alley region. 

]3ickley says: "Both parties were well armed and the contest 
nearly c(iual. the Shawanees having most mvn. while the Cherokees 
had tlie advantage of the breastworks. Through the long day the 

liattlc r;igc(l with iin.-ib.-itcd \ igor. and when nijilil closed in. l>()lh 



and Southwest Virginia 57 

parties built fires and camped on the ground. During the night the 
Cherokees sent to Butler and Carr for powder and lead, which they 
furnished. When the sun rose the following morning the battle was 
renewed with the same spirit in which it had been fought the 
jDrevious day. In a few hours, however, the Shawanees were com- 
pelled to retire. The loss on both sides was great, considering the 
numbers engaged. A large pit was opened and a common grave 
received those who had fallen in this last battle fought between red 
men in this section." 

Dr. Bickley further states that he received an account of 
the battle from a person wlio received it from Carr, an eye- 
witness. Dr. Bickley was misinformed as to who furnished powder 
and lead to the Cherokees after their ammunition became exhausted. 
Thomas Witten was then living with his family at the Crabapple 
Orchard; and he was the man who supplied the Indians with powder 
and lead. This statement is made from substantial traditions that 
have come down through three several branches of Thomas Witten's 
descendants. Samuel Cecil was a grandson of Thomas Witten. the 
pioneer settler, and was born in 1788 at a point within less than a 
mile of where his grandfather lived. He was told by his grandfather, 
and by his mother, who was Nancy Witten previous to her marriage 
with William Cecil, that Thomas Witten gave the powder to the 
Indians. Samuel Cecil was the grandfather of the author, and I 
received this information through him. Judge Samuel C. Graham's 
grandfather was William Witten, a grandson of Thomas Witten, 
and Judge Graham got a similar account through his grandfather. 
John S. Bottimore is a grandson of Thomas Witten 3rd, who was 
a grandson of Thomas Witten, the iirst settler ; and Mr. Bottimore 
has received the same tradition from his grandfather. Carr was 
a professional hunter and trapper, still lingering in the Clinch 
Valley, and may. possibly, have witnessed the battle between the 
Indians. 



58 History of Tazewell County 



CHAPTER III. 

THE INDIANS, THEIR CIVILIZATION, GOVERNMENT, 
MANNERS AND RELIGION. 

The civilization of the aboriginal inhabitants of the North 
American Continent was not only very crude but very diverse from 
that which was brought here by the Europeans. Man, wherever he 
has been found, even in the wildest forms of life, has disclosed a 
sociable nature, and a disposition to have a home somewhere, of 
some kind. This natural love of man for society and companionship 
caused the North American aborigines to have both families and 
communities. As a natural sequence, every Indian community had its 
social organization and a form of government. The Handbook of 
American Indians, issued by the Bureau of American Ethnology, has 
this to say about the social and other organizations of the aboriginal 
inhabitants : 

"The known units of the social and political organization of the 
North American Indians are the family, the clan or gens, the 
phra:try, the tribe, and the confederacy. Of these, the tribe and 
the confederation are the only units completely organized. The 
structures of only two or three confederations are known, and that 
of the Iroquois is the type example. The confederation of the 
tribes was not usual, because the union of several tribes brought 
together many conflicting interests which could not be adjusted 
without sacrifices that appeared to overbalance the benefits of per- 
manent confederation, and because statesmanship of the needed 
breadth and astuteness was usualh' wanting. Hence tribal govern- 
ment remains as the prevailing type of social organization in this 
area. In most tribes the military' were carefully discriminated from 
the civil functions. The civil government was lodged in a chosen 
bod)' of men usually called chiefs, of whom there were commonly 
several grades. Usually the chiefs were organized in a council 
exercising legislative, judicial, and executive functions in matters 
pertaining to the welfare of the tribe. The civil chief was not 
by virtue of his office a military' leader. Among the Iroquois the 
civil chief in order to go to war had to resign his civil function dur- 
ing his absence on the warpath." 



and Southwest Virginia 59 

Every structural unit which composed the tribal organization 
was invested with and exercised authority to hold councils for the 
consideration and determination of its own affairs. They had 
family councils, clan councils, tribal councils, and confederation 
councils, each of them exercising a separate and independent juris- 
diction. Sometimes the Indians held grand councils, at wliich ques- 
tions of vital interest to the tribe were considered and determined. 
A grand council was comjDosed of the chiefs and sub-chiefs, the 
matrons, and the head-warriors of the tribe. With a very few 
exceptions the chiefs of the various tribes were merely the leaders 
and not the rulers. Most of the chiefs were elective and were chosen 
because of some particular qualification, such as coui'age and skill 
in war, oratorical powers, wisdom in council, and so forth. 

The Indians had no written language, and, therefore, could and 
did not have any written code of laws. Their forms of government 
were the outgrowth of their instincts and wants as individuals and 
communities; and were conducted with as little restraint upon 
personal liberty as possible. Savage opinion sanctioned no laws 
that restricted the exercise of their passions and restrained personal 
freedom. Their simple forms of government were established upon 
the basal concept "that freedom is the law of nature." 

A historian has said: "The most striking characteristic of the 
race was a certain sense of personal independence, wilfulness of 
action, freedom from restraint." Consequently slavery was unknown 
among the aboriginal tribes who occupied the regions east of the 
Mississippi. A mild form of bondage, however, did exist with the 
primitive tribes that inhabited the region that bordered on the Upper 
Pacific Coast. With the exception of this area, no traces of real 
slavery have been found among the Indians who lived north of 
Mexico. The early French and Spanish historians fell into the 
error of using the terms "slave" and "prisoner" interchangeably, 
thereby leaving the impression that certain of the tribes of whom 
they were writing did make slaves of their enemies, those who were 
made prisoners in the inter-tribal wars. It is true that the men, 
women, and children wlio were made captives were always con- 
sidered spoils of war, but they were not enslaved. They were 
either killed or adopted into an Indian family, the institution of 
adoption being very general among the numerous tribes. "When a 
sufficient number of prisoners had been tortured and killed to glut 
the savage passions of the conquerors, the rest of the captives were 



60 History of Tazewell County 

adopted, after certain preliminaries^ into the several genteS;, eacli 
newly adopted member taking the place of a lost husband, wife, son, 
or daughter, and being invested M'ith the latter's rights, privileges, 
and duties." 

The chief motive of the red men for the exercise of the custom 
of adoption was to replace the losses their tribes suffered in men 
killed in battle, and women and children who were killed or captured 
by their enemies. This was done to keep the tribes from dwindling 
away, as did most of the Virginia tribes that the white men found 
east of the Blue Ridge. The custom was also used by the Indians 
toward their white captives. John Sailing, who was made a prisoner 
in 1726 bj' a Cherokee hunting party, at or near the Lick where the 
city of Roanoke is now located, was afterwards captured from the 
Cherokees by the Illinois Indians, and adopted b}' a squaw of that 
tribe, to take the place of her son who had been killed in battle. 
Thomas Ingles, who was captured when a small boy at the Draper's 
Meadows massacre in 1755, was adopted into a Shawnee family in 
Ohio. He lived with the Indian family for thirteen years, and 
became so attached to his Indian father, mother, sisters, brothers, 
and little squaw sweethearts that he refused to leave them when his 
white father sent a man by the name of Baker to Ohio to ransom 
and bring him home. 

James and Polly Moore, and Martha Evans, vdio are known in 
history as the "Captives of Abb's Valley," after they were taken 
to the Shawnee towns in Ohio were similarly adopted. They were 
so kindly treated by those who made them members of their families 
that they always spoke in affectionate terms of the Indians after 
their return from captivity. Bickley says: When Martha Evans and 
Polly Moore were among the French, they fared much worse than 
among the Indians. The French had plenty, but were miserly and 
seemed to care little for their wants. The Indians had little, but 
would divide that little to the last particle." 

INDIAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS. 

After stating that the Indians had no written language and no 
code of laws, it may seem paradoxical to say that they had systems 
of education. Yet they did educate their young with as much care 
along certain lines as any civilized nation gives to the training of 
its children. The Indian children were instructed in vocational or 
economic pursuits, such as hunting, fishing, handicraft, agriculture 



and Southwest Virginia 61 

and household work. And in some of tlie tribes they were taught 
oratory, art, customs, etiquette, social obligations, and tribal lore. 
The red men had a system that in modern parlance would be 
called kindergarten. At a very tender age the children were put 
to work at serious business, the girls to household duties and the 
boys to learn the most important pursuits followed by the men. 
The children were supplied with appropriate toys or models, which 
they were required to use as patterns for fashioning similar articles ; 
and, unconsciously, they would develop into basket-makers, weavers, 
potters, water-carriers, cooks, archers, stone-workers, and agricul- 
turists. The range of instruction was regulated by the pursuits 
and customs of the tril)e to which the children belonged. 

When the aborigines came into intimate contact with the white 
men, the Spaniards, the French, the English, the Dutch, and the 
Swedes, a new era of secular and industrial education was intro- 
duced among the Indians. Christian missionaries commenced their 
work in Florida, in Canada, in the Mississippi Valley, in Virginia, 
in New England, in New York, and in New Jersey. The main pur- 
pose of the missionaries was to convert the heathen natives to 
Christianity. Though tliey failed to accomplish much in that direc- 
tion, they did succeed in infusing into the Indians many of the 
industrial processes of the Europeans... From the colonists of the 
(litt'erent nationalities that made settlements in North America the 
red men obtained and learned how to use firearms, metal tools, and 
domestic animals- -horses, sheep, cattle, goats, hogs, and poultry. 
Possession of these caused a gradual change to take place in the 
Indian system of education. One of the objects in colonizing Vir- 
ginia, mentioned in the charter of 1606 and repeated in that of 1621, 
was "to bring the infidels and savages to human civility and a settled 
and quiet government." 

Henrico College, which was founded in 1618, was intended to be 
used as much for the education of Indian youths as for the whites. 
In 1619 the council of Jamestown declared its desire and purpose 
to educate the Indian children in religion, a civil course of life, and 
in some useful trade. But the benevolent professions and intentions 
of the early settlers at Jamestown were destroyed by greed; and 
a cruel policy of extermination of the natives was substituted for 
that of education and regeneration of the poor "infidels and savages." 
The pioneers who settled beyond the mountains in Virginia imbibed 
this spirit of extermination from the inhabitants who lived east of 



62 History of Tazewell County 

the Blue Ridge, and drove tlic natives from the country they had 
so long loved and occupied as hunting grounds. 

After the government of the United States was organized, va- 
rious Christian organizations estal)lislied secular day and boarding- 
schools among the Indians. The Roman Catholics, Moravians, and 
Friends were the pioneers in this work. Later on the Baptists, 
Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and other less prominent 
denominations also took up the work. When the War Department 
was created in 1789, Indian aifairs were committed to that depart- 
ment of the Federal Government, and remained there until 1849, 
when the Indian Bureau was transferred to the Department of the 
Interior. 

General Knox, Secretary of War under Washington's adminis- 
tration, made an urgent appeal for industrial education of the 
Indians ; and President Washington united with Knox in the recom- 
mendation. It seems that the Knox plan was adopted on a small 
scale; and, in a message to Congress in 1 80 1^ President Adams men- 
tioned the sviccess of the effort "to introduce among the Indians the 
implements and practices of husbandry and the household arts." In 
1819 Congress made its first appropriation of |h 0,000 for Indian 
education, and proyided that superintendents and agents to distri- 
bute and apply the money should be nominated by the President. 

In the year 1825 there w6re" 23 Indian schools receiving govern- 
ment aid. The first contract school was established on the Tulalip 
reservation, in the State of Washington, in 1869, but not until 1873 
were government schools proper provided. The Handbook of 
American Indians, edited by Frederick Webb Hodge, saj^s: "In 
the beginning there were only day schools, later boarding schools 
on the l-eservations, and finally boarding schools remote from them. 
The training in all the schools was desigiied to bring the Indians 
nearer to civilized life, with a view to ultimate citizenship by 
enabling them to assimilate the speech, industrial life, family organ- 
ization, social manners and customs, civil government, knowledge, 
modes of thinking, and ethical standards of the whites." 

More than three centuries have passed since the benignant 
promise of bringing "the infidels and savages to human civility 
and a settled and quiet government" was written into the first char- 
ter for Virginia issued by James I ; and the promise is now being 
successfully carried out by the Federal Government. This is accom- 
plished through government schools for the Indians. The scheme 



and Southwest Virginia 63 

being used by the Indian Office is "to teach the pupils English, 
arithmetic, geography, and United States history, and also to train 
them in farming and the care of stock and in trade as well as gym- 
nastics." For this training, day, boarding, and training schools 
are maintained, numbering in the aggregate 253, with 2,300 em- 
ployees, and an annual expenditure of $5,000,000. 

INDIAN MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 

There was much diversity in the marriage customs of the 
aboriginal tribes of North America. Though they were so com- 
pletely removed from what is known as refined civilization, their 
marital practices were of unusual merit, much superior to those of 
other barbarian nations. Whilst polygamy was permissible with 
a few of the tribes, monogamy was almost the universal practice 
with the nations who inhabited that part of the continent east of 
the Mississippi. The clan or gentile systems prevailed among all 
these tribes. These systems were adopted to prevent the physical 
and mental deterioration of a tribe which would follow the repeated 
marriage of those who were of near kinship. 

When a youthful Indian wanted to get married he would seek 
a girl who was a competent housewife, and the girl would select for 
her mate one who was a skilled hunter. Courtship in all the tribes 
of the Algonquian family were practically conducted alike. The 
parents of the young couple would generally arrange the marriage, 
though the young men in some instances were allowed to conduct 
their own courtship. Among the Delawares the mother would take 
the presents of game killed by her son to the parents of the girl 
and receive gifts in return from them. Then, a conference would 
take place between the relations of the young lovers, and, if a mar- 
riage was agreed upon, the exchange of presents would be continued 
for some time. It is more than probable that all these rude cere- 
monials were merely formal ; and that the lovers had frequent happy 
meetings before and while their relations were arranging for the 
marriage. 

Marriages among the Iroquois were arranged by the mothers 
without the knowledge and consent of the young folks. Though the 
marriage bond was loose, adultery was held to be a serious crime. 
Divorce was easily effected, but was not considered creditable. A 
husband could put away his wife whenever he found fault with her, 
and a wife could separate from her husband with like ease. If the 



64 History of Tazewell Couiit}'^ 

divorcees had children^ the offsjiring went with the wife. Divorces 
were not as common among the savages as they are now among the 
English-speaking nations, the American Nation in particular, which 
boasts of superior Christian civilization. 

Like all other races the Indians had both happy and unhappy 
marriages. Infidelities of a husband sometimes drove his faithful 
wife to suicide; and the faithless wife was without protection, and 
if her husband insulted or disfigured her, or even killed her, no 
protest was made by her relations or other members of the tribe. 

AMUSEMENTS. 

The primitive Indians were of sombre mien and sedate manner, 
but they had their amusements just as the white races have always 
had theirs. The dance was almost universal with the American 
tribes. Their dances were mostly' ceremonial, of religion and of 
war, but they also had the social dance. When not engaged in hunt- 
ing or on the warpath, much of their time was occupied with danc- 
ing, gaming and story-telling. P'rom Hudson Bay to the Gulf of 
Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the border of the plains, the great 
athletic game was the ball play, now adopted among the civilized 
games under the name of lacrosse. Athletes were regularly trained 
for this game, both for tribal and intertribal contests. Roosevelt, 
who got his information from John Eartram, the great American 
botanist who visited the Cherokees in 1773, says this about the game: 

"The Cherokees were a bright, intelligent race, better fitted to 
'follow the white man's road' than any other Indians. Like their 
neighbors they were exceedingly fond of games of chance and skill, 
as well as of athletic sports. One of the most striking of their 
national amusements was the kind of ball play from which we 
derive the game of lacrosse. The implements consisted of ball 
stijcks or rackets, two feet long, strung with raw-hide webbing, and 
of a deer-skin ball, stuffed with hair, so as to be solid, and about 
the size of a base ball. Sometimes the game was played by fixed 
numbers, sometimes b}^ all the young men of a village; and there 
were often tournaments between different towns and even different 
tribes. The contests excited the most intense interest, were waged 
with desperate resolution, and were jjrecedcd by solemn dances. 

"The Cherokees were likewise very fond of dances. Sometimes 
these were comic or lascivious, sometimes they were religious in 



and Southwest Virginia 65 

their nature, or were undertaken prior to starting on the war-trail. 
Often the" dances of the young men and maidens were very pictur- 
esque. The girls, dressed in white, with silver bracelets and gorgets, 
and a profusion of gay ribbons, danced in a circle in two ranks ; the 
young warriors, clad in their battle finery, danced in a i-ing around 
them ; all moving in rythmic step, as they kept time to the antiphonal 
chanting and singing, the young men and girls responding alter- 
nately to each other." 

The warriors and boys of nearly all the tribes amused themselves 
at target practice with arrows, knives, or hatchets, thrown from 
the hand, and with both the bow and rifle. Games resembling dice 
and hunt-the-button were played by both sexes, most generally in 
the wigwams during the long winter nights. 

The women had special games, such as shinny, football, and the 
deer-foot game. Football was not played by the Rugby Rules, but 
the main object was to keep the ball in the air as long as possible 
by kicking it upward. The deer-foot game was played with a num- 
ber of perforated bones that were taken from a deer's foot. They 
were strung upon a beaded cord, with a needle at one end of the 
cord. The bones were tossed in such a way as to catch a particular 
one upon the end of the needle. The children also had ample amuse- 
ments. They had target shooting, stilts, slings and tops for the boys, 
and buckskin dolls and playing house for the girls, with "Wolf" or 
"catcher", and several forfeit plays, including a breath holding test. 

RELIGION OF THE INDIANS. 

"The fool hath said in his heart. There is no God." This 
emphatic proclamation by the Psalmist of the mental deficiency of 
the atheist was not and is not applicable to the North American 
Indians. They did not strive through mental processes to establish 
the existence of a first Great Cause, or a self-existent Supreme 
Being; but with simple, child-like faith they believed that an invis- 
ible Almighty Person controlled the heavens and the earth. To him 
they directed their spiritual thoughts as the source of all power, 
and they worshipped him as the Great Spirit. They believed that 
this Great Spirit entered into, directed and dominated everything 
throughout the Universe; and that he was present everywhere, all 
the time ; ruling the elements, protecting and caring for the obedient 
and good, and punishing the disobedient and wicked. 

Though the traditions of none of the Indian tribes or families 
T.H.-5 



66 History of Tazewell County 

tell of any direct revelation made to men by the Great Spirit, their 
faith was as strong in the existence of a Supreme Being and a future 
life for man after death as is that held by any of the races who 
worship the God of Abraham, or the God Man, Jesus Christ. To 
the Indians the mysteries of Life and Light were emblems of Life 
Eternal. In an address delivered at Boston on the 4th of July, 
1825, Charles Sprague, in protraying the characteristics of the 
North American Indians, thus eloquently spoke of their religious 
instincts : 

"Here, too, they worshipped, and from many a dark bosom went 
up a fervent prayer to the Great Spirit. He had not written his 
laws for them on tables of stone, but he had traced them on the 
tables of their hearts. The poor child of nature knew not the God 
of Revelation, but the God of the universe he acknowledged in 
everything around. He beheld him in the star that sank in beauty 
behind his lonely dwelling; in the sacred orb that flamed on him from 
his midday throne ; in the flower that snapped in the morning breeze ; 
in the lofty pine that defied a thousand whirlwinds ; in the timid 
warbler that never left its native grove ; in the fearless eagle, whose 
untired pinion was wet in clouds; in the worm that crawled at his 
feet; and in his own matchless form, glowing with a spark of that 
light, to whose mysterious source he bent in humble though blind 
adoration." 

Moralists and scientists have tried in vain to fathom the depths 
of the moral and religious tenets of tlie untutored American aborig- 
ines. These simple children of nature, who wei'e as ferocious as the 
beasts of the jungle when grappling with their foes, in the presence 
of the God whom they worshipped were as humble and reverent as 
the most cultured and devout expositors of the enlightened religions 
of the world. The moral law was given to the Israelites by direct 
revelation from Jehovah; and was transmitted through his son, 
Jesus Christ, to the Gentile nations. It was given to the Indians by 
the inspiration or visitation of the Holy Spirit; and this was why 
the wild red men of the American forests and plains recognized 
God's presence in every grandly mysterious or beautiful thing in 
nature. It was a faith that emanates from the contact of spirit with 
spirit, the spirit of the Living God touching and enlivening tlie 
spirit of the creature, man. Truly has it been written: 

"God moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders to perform." 



and Southwest Virginia 67 

The religious concepts of the North American tribes were more 
materialistic than rationalistic. They tried to reach the super- 
natural through the natural, impelled to this by a belief that there 
is a magic or inherent power in natural objects more potent than 
the natural powers of man. This idea of a magic power is a funda- 
mental concept of all the Indian tribes; and they believe that the 
strange power exists in visible and invisible objects, in animals, men, 
spirits, deities, and so forth. The Algonquian tribes called it 
vianito, or manitou; with the Sioux tribes it is known as wakanda; 
and the Iroquois call it orenda. 

The aborigines used the word manito to express the unknown 
powers of life and of the universe. In the vocabulary of the white 
man manito means spirit — either good, bad, or indifferent. To the 
Indians the name also signifies, god, or devil, guardian spirit, and 
so forth. 

Most of the tribes believed in tutelary or patron spirits- — a belief 
which strongly resembles the Christian concept of guardian angel. 
The manito of the individual Indian is supposed to invest him with 
magic power, and with it abilities to become a successful hunter, 
warrior, priest, or to imbue him with power to acquire wealth and 
success in winning the love of women. And the means used by the 
red men to control or influence the powers of nature were very much 
like those adopted by the white races. One of these was the use 
of charms, as still employed by superstitious and ignorant white 
persons. Another medium was prayer, which the Indian either 
directed to his individual protecting spirit, or to the supreme powers 
of nature. They also used ceremonial songs of a peculiar rhythm 
when making appeals to the supernatural, just as the Jews sing 
psalms and the Christians sing hymns and anthems in their services. 

Among the Indians generally there was a strong conviction that 
if the supernatural powers were offended by the sin or sins of a 
particular individual, the powers could be propitiated by punish- 
ment of the offender. This was accomplished by driving the offend- 
ing individual from the tribe, by killing him, or the appeasement 
could be effected by a milder form of punishment. The milder 
form was most generally used. 

The Indians believe that disease is caused by the presence of 
a material evil object in the body of the diseased person, or is due 
to absence of the soul from the body. Such a belief will not appear 
so unreasonable when we remember that Christ healed maniacs and 



68 History of Tazewell County 

epileptics by casting out tlie devils that were in the poor unfortu- 
nates. In their efforts to cure diseases, the Indians employ their 
medicine-men, who claim to procure their powers for healing from 
or through their guardian spirits. The medicine-man, or shaman 
works himself into a state of excitement by singing, by using a drum 
and rattle, and by dancing. The Indians, who are very superstitious, 
also believe in witchcraft, and that hostile shamans can bring disease 
to the bodies of their enemies, and may even abduct their souls. 
So believing, the aborigines made witchcraft a great crime; and 
punished the witch, but not more severely than did the Puritan 
fanatics of New Ensrland. 



The Indians as a race have rejected the great spiritual verities 
that Christ planted in his Church nineteen hundred years ago. Why 
have they refused to accept a religion that is so exalted in its purity, 
and that awakens not only the holiest emotions but is pillared on 
the prof oundest reason of which man is capable of exercising ? Why 
do the red men scornfully turn awaj^ from a religion that teaches 
the highest moral standards, and that is filled with the elemental 
principles of truth, justice, charity and righteousness? There is 
not much trouble in finding an answer to these questions. The white 
men came among the Indians professing to have a religion that haS 
been revealed to them by the Great Spirit. They tendered the simple 
natives the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and 
the Golden Rule as divine revelations to men. These the white men 
professed to believe and to practice. Naturally the aborigines made 
the practices of the so-called Christians the touchstone by which 
to test not only the sincerity of the white man's pi'ofessions, but 
to fathom the quality of the new religion that was brought from 
beyond the seas. The Spanish discoverers and conquerors, and the 
French and English colonists, each and all, came to the New World 
proclaiming their desire and purpose to convert the heathen natives 
to Christianity. But the great human passions — greed of gold, and 
lust of pleasure in its most sensuous forms — not only caused them to 
desecrate the holy banner they bore aloft, but to violate every 
precept of the Decalogue, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Golden 
Rule. They murdered and robbed the Indians, destroyed and drove 
them from their homes, and dishonored their women. Their crimes 
were not confined to the poor natives ; but they oppressed, killed 
and robbed each other; frequently assigning their fanatical religious 



and Southwest Virginia 69 

beliefs as a justification for committing the vilest crimes against 
men and women of their own race. Menendez, the SiDanish brute, 
massacred the entire colony of French Huguenots on the St. John's 
River in Florida, offering as an excuse for the crime that they were 
Protestants, or heretics ; the Cavaliers of the Anglican Church in Vir- 
ginia outlawed the dissenters, the Baptists and Presbyterians, and 
drove them from the colony to North Carolina and Maryland; and 
the Puritan Calvinists of Massachusetts and the other New England 
colonies organized at Boston a military force which was sent to 
Nova Scotia to destroy the homes and drive into exile the French 
inhabitants of Acadia. Bancroft saj's: "Seven thousand of these 
banished people were driven on board ships and scattered among 
the English colonies from New Hampshire to Georgia ; one thousand 
to South Carolina alone." Their houses and barns were destroyed 
with the torch, and large numbers of cattle, hogs, sheep, and horses 
were forcibly taken and divided as spoils among the English officers. 
The annals of the human race record no fouler crime than the one 
which the men of England and New England committed upon the 
defenceless French inhabitants of Acadia, who were made objects 
of cruel vengeance, because as they declared: "We have been true 
to our religion, and true to ourselves." The Christian religion is 
pure and holy, and should be accejDted by all men ; but is it any 
wonder that the North American Indians rejected, and still reject 
it, after witnessing its perverted exemplification by the brutal white 
men who claimed to be Christians.^ 



Period of Discovery and Colonization 



Relating the Discoveries and Conquests of the 
Spaniards, and the Discoveries and Settle- 
ments of the French and English 
in America. 



PERIOD OF DISCOVERY AND 
COLONIZATION 



CHAPTER I. 

SPANISH AND FRENCH DISCOVERIES AND CONQUESTS. 

In the preparation of a purely local history much trouble is 
experienced by a writer in selecting, from many collated facts, the 
things most important and only essential as a prelude to the dis- 
cussion of the particular subject of which he intends to write. This 
difficulty has confronted the writer while preparing to write the 
Pioneer Period of Tazewell County. Most of the local historians 
of this country have considered it necessary to introduce in the 
opening chapters of their books a considerable amount of informa- 
tion about the first discoveries of the North American Continent; 
and also to write much of the performances of the first settlers on 
its shores. Our historians in Virginia, both State and local, have 
followed this course with such thoroughness and so admirably that 
it seemed useless for another to repeat what they have already done 
so well. But I have found it necessary to enlarge upon the plan 
outlined in my "Announcement" and have added another Period, 
which I will call "The Period of Discovery and Colonization." 
This will be seen to be an important necessary link to connect the 
Aboriginal with the Pioneer Period. 



As to those who have been reputed the very first discoverers of 
the New World, there is as mucli of fable as of reasonable fact. 
It has been claimed, and generally accepted as true, that the first 
white men who ever caught sight of the Western Continent were with 
a Norse navigator who had the name of Herjulfson. He was sail- 
ing from Iceland to Greenland A. D. 986, was caught in a storm, 
and was driven westward to Newfoundland or Labrador. Herjulf- 
son saw the shores of a new country but made no attempt to go on 
shore. Upon his return to Greenland, he and his companions told 
wonderful stories of the new land they had seen in the west. 

E. Benjamin Andrews in his history of the United States says: 
"It is a pleasing narrative, that of Lief Ericson's sail in 1000-1001 
to Helluland, Markland, and at last to Vineland, and of the subse- 
quent tours of Thorwald Ericson in 1002, Thorfinn Karlsefue, 
1007-1009, and of Helge and Finnborge in 1011 to points still 
farther away. Such voyages probably occurred. As is well known. 

1 7:3 1 



74 History of Tazewell County 

Helluland has been interpreted to be Newfoundland; Markland^ 
Nova Scotia ; and Vineland^ the country bordering Mount Hope Bay 
in Bristol^ R. I. These identifications are possibly fcorrect, and 
even if they are mistaken, Vineland may still have been somewhere 
upon the coast of what is now the United States." 

As these stories are said to have been taken from Icelandic 
manuscripts of the fourteenth century, without anj^ substantial 
supporting evidence being found on this continent, there is grave 
doubt whether the sea-rovers from the North ever made any pro- 
longed stay on American soil. Therefore it is claimed that Christ- 
opher Columbus should be accorded the honor of being the first 
discoverer of America. Columbus made his first voyage of discovery 
in 1492, and landed on the island he named San Salvador on the 
12th of October of that year. Before returning to Spain he dis- 
covered Cuba and Hayti and built a fort on the latter island. In 
1493 he made a second voyage from Spain, starting out from Cadiz. 
This expedition was not completed until 1496, and during its prog- 
ress he discovered the Lesser Antilles, Porto Rico, and Jamaica. 
In a third voyage, made in 1498-1500, he found Trinidad and 
reached the mainland of South America at the mouth of the Orinoco 
River. On his second voyage he had established a colonj^ in Hayti 
and appointed his brother governor. Upon his return from the 
South American coast he found the colony in Hayti in a badly dis- 
organized condition. He was attempting to restore order when 
he was seized by Francisco de Bobadilla, who had been sent from 
Spain to investigate charges of maladministration against Columbus. 
The great navigator was put in chains and sent back to Spain but 
the king repudiated the act of Bobadilla, set Columbus free, and 
started him on his fourth voyage in search of the Indies. This 
voyage resulted in nothing more than explorations along the southern 
coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Disappointed with the results of his 
last undertaking, he returned to Spain and found that Queen 
Isabella, his great friend and patron, was dead. Friendless and 
neglected, he died May 20th, 1505, and became famous to future 
generations. It is a remarkable fact that Columbus never placed his 
feet on the North American Continent. He died without knowing that 
he had discovered a new continent, and claimed till the last that he 
had reached the coast of India. Columbus had, he believed, accom- 
plished the chief purpose of his perilous voj^ages, that is, gained 
access to the rich treasures of the Indies. He was a devout Catholic 



and Southwest Virginia 75 

and a cordial hater of the Turk, whom he wished to drive from 
Europe and the Holy Land. John Fiske in his very interesting 
book, "Old Virginia And Her Neighbors", says: 

"The relief of the church from threatening dangers was in those 
days the noblest and most sacred function of wealth. When Colum- 
bus aimed his prow westward from the Canaries, in quest of Asia, 
its precious stones, its silk stuffs, its rich shawls and rugs, its corals 
and dye-woods, its aromatic spices, he expected to acquire vast 
wealth for the sovereigns who employed him and no mean fortune 
for himself. In all negotiations he insisted upon a good round per- 
centage, and could no more be induced to budge from his price than 
the old Roman Sybyl with her books. Of petty self-seeking and 
avarice there was no more in this than in commercial transactions 
generally. The wealth thus sought by Columbus was not so much 
an end as a means. His spirit was that of a Crusader, and his aim 
was not to discover a New World (an idea which seemed never to 
have once entered his head), but to acquire the means for driving 
the Turk from Europe and setting free the Holy SejDulchre. Had 
he been told upon his melancholy death-bed that instead of finding 
a quick way to Cathay he had only discovered a New World, it 
would probably have added fresh bitterness to his death." 

At the time Columbus was preparing for a second voyage to the 
New World, Amerigo Vespucci, a native of Florence, was at the 
head of a Florentine mercantile firm in Seville. He was a naval 
astronomer of considerable attainments; and, having heard of the 
wonderful discoveries made by Columbus, he became very eager 
to enter the field of discovery. On the 20th of May, 1499, he sailed 
with an exploring expedition, commanded by the Spanish Admiral 
Hojeda, from Cadiz. This expedition first landed on what is now 
the Venezuelan coast of South America. He made explorations in 
the Bay of Paria, which lies between the Island of Trinidad and 
the mainland, and he also sailed several hundred miles along the 
South American coast. Admiral Hojeda returned to Spain with 
his squadron in the early autumn of the same year. 

Another expedition was promptly fitted out, and Vespucci, in 
December, started on his second voyage. This time his only accom- 
plishment was the discoverj'^ of gi'oups of small islands on the south 
of the Gulf of Mexico. After his return to Spain from the second 
voyage, Emanuel, King of Portugal, persuaded Vespucci to quit 



76 History of Tazewell County 

the service of Spain and enter that of Portugal; and he made two 
voyages, beginning the first on the 10th of May, 1501, and the 
second on the 10th of May, 1503. The chief purpose of the Floren- 
tine was to sail westward with a view of discovering a passage to 
Malaca, which was then the extreme point on the Malay coast that 
had been reached by European navigators. His fleet for the last 
voyage consisted of six ships, but one of these was lost in a storm. 
After encountering and escaping many perils, Vespucci at last 
reached safety with his five vessels in what is now called "All Saints 
Bay" on the coast of Brazil. Then it was that the Florentine 
realized that he had discovered a new continent, and upon his 
return to Europe he so reported. Columbus having made the mis- 
take of claiming to have reached India when he landed on the South 
American coast; and the Cabots having announced that they had 
reached the continent of Asia on their several voyages to the coasts 
of North America, it was reserved for Amerigo Vespucci to first 
make known to Europe the fact that the continent which the Norse- 
men, and Columbus, and the Cabots had repeatedly visited was not 
a part of Asia, but was a newly discovered and distinct continent. 
It was, therefore, very natural that when Amerigo published a 
narrative of his V03'ages the new continent should be given his 
name, America, as an honor justly due him. There has been much 
adverse criticism of the Florentine, because of the belief that he 
cunningly appropriated an honor that belonged of right to Christ- 
opher Colimibus. It was also charged by his enemies and detractors 
that he was a man of inferior ability, with very limited knowledge 
of the sciences necessary to make him a successful navigator. Baron 
Humboldt and other distinguished scientists, who made investiga- 
tions, defended him against these aspersions; and assert that it was 
his excellent knowledge of various branches of science that caused his 
selection as naval astronomer for the several expeditions he con- 
ducted or accompanied across the Atlantic. It is also a notable fact 
that Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci were intimate 
friends after they had each made voyages, tliough Columbus dis- 
puted until the day of his death that a new continent had been dis- 
covered. 



The discovery of America not only created intense interest 
among the scientific and scholarly men of the Old World, but 
excited in the countries of Western Europe an unusual spirit of 



and Southwest Virginia 77 

enterprise and adventure. This was especially manifest in Spain, 
occasioned, no doubt, by the fact that the discovery had been accom- 
plished with the liberal aid and patronage of Spanish sovereigns. 
Within the space of ten years after the death of Columbus the 
larger islands of the West Indies had been explored and Spanish 
colonies established upon them. The first continental colony planted 
by the Spaniards was on the Isthmus of Darien in 1510, and three 
years later the governor of that colony, Vasco Nunez De Balboa, 
made his way across the Isthmus and discovered the mighty ocean 
that covers about two-fifths of the entire surface of the world. 

There was a succession of explorations and colonizations made 
by other Spaniards in ensuing years. Juan Ponce De Leon started 
out from Porto Rico, of which island he was governor, in 1512 in 
search of a mythical fountain of youth, which was believed to be 
located somewhere in the Bahamas. Being an old man, he was 
ambitious to be made young again; and was foolish enough to have 
faith in the fabulous tales he had heard about this fountain of youth. 
Having failed to find the fountain in the Bahamas, he sailed toward 
the coast of Florida, and on Easter Sunday, the 27th of March, he 
looked upon an unknown beautiful shore. A few days later a land- 
ing was made a short distance north of where the city of St. Augus- 
tine was started about a half a century later. Ponce De Leon was 
so charmed with the many beautiful flowers that abound in that 
land, he named the countrj- Florida, the "Land of Flowers." Aftr 
wards the King of Spain made Ponce De Leon governor of Florida ; 
but he did not return to the new province until the year 1521. Upon 
his arrival he found the natives in a very hostile mood. Short! 
after they had landed the Spaniards were furiously attacked by 
the Indians^ and a number of the white men were killed. Th 
remainder fled to their ships, taking with them their leader who had 
been mortally wounded with an arrow. Ponce De Leon was carried 
back to Cuba, where he died from the wound. 

In the year 1517 Fernandez De Cordova discovered Yucatan 
and the Bay of Campeachy. His company was attacked by the 
natives and he received a mortal wound. The following year Gri- 
jalva, assisted by Cordova's pilot, made extensive explorations of 
the coast of Mexico; and in 1519 Hernando Cortes began his famous 
conquest of the Aztec empire. 

The next discovery of importance was made by Fernando De 
Magellan, the famous Portuguese navigator. He had petitioned the 



78 History of Tazewell County 

King of Portugal in vain for ships to make a voyage in search of a 
southwest passage to Asia. The court of Portugal gave such deep 
offense to Magellan that he traveled to Spain, accompanied by his 
countrymen, Ruy Falero, who was an excellent geographer and 
astronomer. He succeeded in interesting Charles V., King of Spain, 
in his plans for seeking a southwest passage, and procured ample 
assistance from that monarch. Magellan sailed in September, 1517, 
with five ships and two hundred and thirty-six men. Heading 
direct for the South American coast, he arrived safely at the mouth 
of the La Plata River. Thence he sailed along the coast of Pata- 
gonia, passed through the strait which has since borne his name, 
entered the southern Pacific Ocean, giving it that name on account 
of the beautiful weather which prevailed when he sailed into its 
waters. He then started out to complete his voyage around the 
world; but was prevented from accomplishing in person his ardent 
desire by his unfortunate death, which occurred on one of the 
Philippine Islands in a fight with the natives, in April, 1521. A 
new captain took charge of his ship and carried it back to Spain by 
way of the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at home in September, 
1522. Thus was completed the first voyage around the world. 

In the year 1520 a very disgraceful expedition was undertaken 
by Lucas Vasquez De Ayllon, who had become very rich as a 
Spanish judge in San Domingo. The object of this expedition was 
to kidnap the natives from the Bahamas to be used as slaves by 
De Ayllon and other unscrupulous planters on their plantations in 
San Domingo. De Ayllon sailed with two vessels for his proposed 
destination, but a storm drove them out of their course and onto the 
coast of South Carolina. The ships were sailed into St. Helena 
Sound, and their anchors lowered at the mouth of the Combahee 
River. De Ayllon gave the name Chicora to the country, and called 
the river the Jordan. The natives were exceedingly timid but kind 
and friendly to the strange visitors, and gave them presents of their 
simple food, and rude trinkets. Their curiosity was aroused, and 
a sufficient number to crowd the ships were lured on board, when the 
brutal commander of the expedition ordered the anchors to be 
weighed and started on the return voyage with his slaves to San 
Domingo. A heavy storm was encountered, one of the ships found- 
ered, and the poor creatures, who had been imprisoned under the 
hatches of the ship, were rescued by death from the horrible fate 
that awaited them as slaves in San Domingo. This was the first 



and Southwest Virginia 79 

effort of the Spaniards to make slaves of the Indians. The dis, 
covery of Chieora was reported to Charles V., King of Spain^ and 
he appointed De Ayllon governor of the newly discovered country, 
granting him the right to make conquest thereof. De Ayllon 
returned with a small fleet to his province in 1525, but his best ship 
was grounded in the Jordan when he entered that river. The 
Indians recalled the cruel outrages they had suffered on the previous 
visit of the Spaniards, their timidity was replaced with desperate 
courage, and they made a furious attack upon the occupants of the 
grounded ship, killing a number of the invaders. The survivors 
were glad to escape with their lives, and hastily started back to 
San Domingo. De Ayllon was greatly humiliated by the failure of 
his expedition, and he was ruined in fortune and favor with the 
Spanish Government. 

Pamphilo de Narvaez was appointed governor of Florida in the 
year 1526 by Charles V., King of Spain, with the privilege of con- 
quest, as had been given Cortes, Pizarro and other Spanish adven- 
turers who brought expeditions to America. A very extensive terri- 
tory both east and west of the Mississippi was included in his com- 
mission. He went to Florida with three hundred soldiers, of whom 
forty were cavalrymen. The object of the expedition was more for 
hunting gold than for colonization. In some way the natives found 
out the motive of the invaders, and practiced a shrewd deception 
upon them. The Indians exhibited small gold trinkets and pointed 
to the North. This greatly excited the avaricious Spaniards, who 
inferred that the natives were telling them that there were rich gold 
fields and large cities in the North, like those Cortes had found in 
Mexico, and Pizarro in Peru. The Spaniards started out through the 
dense forests in search of the great wealth they believed would be 
found in the North. Instead of finding cities and gold, they came to 
impenetrable swamps and encountered small bands of savages who 
lived in squalid villages consisting of a few rude huts. After many 
days travel in what is now Georgia and Alabama, they were so 
fatigued and scant of food that they determined to return to their 
ships on the coast; and finally arrived at St. Marks harbor. But 
the ships they expected to find were not there. Desperately situated, 
the remnant of the band built some small boats, which they entered, 
and started out with the hope of reaching a Spanish settlement in 
Mexico. Storms came upon them, they were driven out of sight of 
land and then thrown back upon the coast. Some were drowned, 



80 History of Tazewell County 

others were killed by the Indians, and some were starved to death. 
The boat in which Narvaez was traveling was sunk near the mouth 
of the Mississippi and he perished there. Only four of the entire 
expeditionary force succeeded in reaching Mexico; and they wan- 
dered across the continent to the village of San Miguel on the Pacific 
Coast. From that place they ultimately found their way to Mexico. 
One of the most distinguished Spanish cavaliers who accom- 
panied Pizarro to Peru was P^erdinand De Soto. He was of noble 
birtli. was an intimate friend of Pizarro, and had returned from Peru 
to Spain with vast wealth he had gathered in the land of the Incas. 
His great popularity in Spain made it easy for him to secure an 
appointment as governor both of Cuba and Florida, with ample 
authority granted for making conquest of the Land of Flowers. A 
very large number of wealthy and high-born Spaniards made eager 
application for enlistment under De Soto to accompany him on his 
expedition to Florida. From the numerous applicants he carefully 
selected six hundred, whom he considered the most gallant and bes, 
fitted for the service and hardships he knew would have to be 
endured. These cavaliers were splendidly equipped with flie finest 
suits of armor, made after the pattern of those worn by knights in 
the days of chivalry. Careful preparations were made to have 
this excel in splendor all other expeditions that had gone from Spain 
to make conquests in the New World. Arms in abundance and 
large stores of supplies of the first quality were assembled; trained 
artisans, with ample tools for forges and work-shops were added; 
and bloodhounds to chase down the fleeing natives and chains to 
bind them when made captives were also made part of the equip- 
ment. A herd of swine, to be fattened on the corn of the natives 
and the acorns and nuts that grew in the vast forests that were to 
be explored, was also provided. Twelve priests of the Holy Cath- 
olic Church were enlisted to look after the spiritual welfare of the 
gay cavaliers, and to make converts to Christianity of the heathen 
natives. It is possible these priests were sent by the Spanish Inqui- 
sition, lience the trained bloodhounds to chase the poor Indians and 
the shackles to bind them with when made captives. 

A year was occupied by De Soto in extensive preparation for his 
wonderful expedition of discover}' and conquest. In the spring of 
1539 his squadron of ten vessels sailed from the harbor of San 
Lucar with his eager and impatient six hundred followers aboard. 
It required but a few weeks to make the voyage to Havana. There 



and Southwest Virginia 81 

he left his wife in charge of his own and the island's affairs until 
he could return with greatly added Avealth and glory from his explo- 
ration of Florida. He sailed from Havana after a brief stay there, 
and in the early part of June sailed into Tampa Bay. A number 
of Cubans had joined the expedition, but a part of these were so 
terrified by the awful gloom of the forests and swamps they saw in 
Florida that they separated from De Soto and returned to Cuba. 
De Soto and his intrepid followers made but little delay in begin- 
ning what proved a disastrous march into the interior in search of 
the mystic El Dorado they confidently hoped to reach. The months 
of July, August and September were fully occupied with an ener- 
getic march toward the North. The explorers struggled through 
almost impenetrable swamps^ swam rivers and had frequent encoun- 
ters with the Indians, whom De Soto found were much bolder and 
more effective fighters than the aborigines he had helped to conquer 
in Peru. In the month of October they reached Flint River in 
Georgia, and there came in contact with the Appalachian Indians, 
with whose several tribes they were to have many experiences in 
the future. De Soto concluded to winter there; and, having done 
this, in the early spring of 1540 the march was resumed and was 
turned into an almost senseless wandering over the territory now 
constituting the States of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, 
Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, east of the Mississippi River; 
and Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma on the west of the river. 
In the sjDring of 1541 the Indian giiides brought the Spaniards to 
the Mississippi; and the great "Father of Waters" was revealed 
for the first time to white men, as De Soto and his followers gazed 
upon it. In the latter part of May the Spaniards crossed the Mis- 
sissippi. They began their roving journey over the territory west 
of the river and did not return to its western banks in the neighbor- 
hood of Natchez until 1542. The spirit of the ambitious leader was 
completely crushed. He was stricken with a malignant fever which 
soon caused his death, and he was buried in the great river which 
has ever since been historically and dramatically associated with tlie 
name of De Soto. 

Previous to his death, De Soto had selected as his successor 
Moscoso, one of his most trusted lieutenants. Under his leadership 
the depleted band of ragged and starving adventurers resumed their 
journey in search of the riches for which they had already expended 
two years of fruitless endeavor. They wandered back in a west- 

wardly course until they came to the upper waters of Red River on 
T,H.-6 



82 History of Tazewell County 

the northern borders of Texas. Then they turned northward and 
wandered through the territory occupied by the Pawnee and 
Comanche tribes of Indians, still hunting for gold. At last they 
came to such rugged and barren mountains, and were so discouraged 
that they turned back and again came to the Mississippi River, a 
short distance above the mouth of Red River. Overcome with 
despair, the remnant of De Soto's gay band of cavaliers decided to 
build boats and travel down the Mississippi to the Gulf, and then 
try to reach a Spanish settlement in Mexico. In pursuance of this 
resolution, they cut trees from the forests, and sawed them into 
lumber, built forges and turned all the iron and steel they had, 
including the fetters of the captive natives, into nails and other 
iron pieces necessary for the construction of their boats. In this 
way they succeeded in making seven brigantines and on the 2nd 
day of July, 1543, they began their voyage down the river. Seven- 
teen days were necessary to reach the Gulf. They then headed their 
boats westward', and in fifty-five days after entering the Gulf they 
came to the Spanish settlement at the mouth of the River of Palms. 



More than twenty years passed away after the disastrous De 
Soto expedition before Spain made another attempt to plant a colony 
in Florida. In 1565 an enterprise for that purpose was entrusted 
to Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a soldier of notorious criminal char- 
acter and vicious disposition. At that time Philip II. was King of 
Spain, having succeeded his father. Emperor Charles V. Philip had 
adopted his father's policies for the government of his kingdom and 
empire, the chief of which policies were the maintenance and exten- 
sion of absolute rule throughout his dominions and a zealous support 
and propagation of the Catholic religion. Like his father, he was 
an ambitious despot and fanatical supporter of the Spanish Inquisi- 
tion. He hated the Protestants and was anxious to destroy a colony 
of French Huguenots who made a settlement in Florida on the St. 
Johns River, about thirty-five miles above its mouth. This settle- 
ment was within the limits of the territory claimed by Spain. In 
fact, Spain asserted title to all of North America, by virtue of a 
bull issued by the Pope of Rome, who assumed to exercise temporal 
as well as spiritual power over the entire world. Philip was deter- 
mined to apply not only his principle of absolutism to his American 
dominions, Ibut to enforce the decrees of the Inquisition here as well 
as in Spain. Hence the selection of the brutal fanatic Menendez, 
who was given a commission to explore and make conquest of 



and Southwest Virginia 83 

Florida and establish a colony there. In compensation for his base 
performances, Menendez was to receive an annual salary of two 
thousand dollars and two hundred and twenty-five square miles of 
land to be located in proximity to the colony. The spirit of adven- 
ture and the hunger for gold were still rampant in Spain, and with 
very little trouble Menendez assembled twenty-five hundred persons, 
many of whom were married men with families, that were eager to 
accompany the expedition. He started out from Spain with hia 
large fleet in July, 1565, reached Porto Rico early in the month of 
August, and on the 28th day of the same month arrived on the 
Florida coast. It was St. Augustine's day when the coast came in 
view, but a landing was not efi'ected until the 2nd of September. 
When a location for the colony had been selected, the Spanish leader 
named it St. Augustine, in honor of the Saint of that name. This 
was the first permanent settlement made by people of the white race 
within the present bounds of the United States. It was destined to 
become one of the most historic spots in our land. Subsequent to 
its founding, the place was the scene of many tragic events. The 
French and hostile Indians repeatedly attacked it; in 1586 it was 
captured and pillaged by England's most renowned sea-rover, Sir 
Francis Drake, and by pirates in 1665. Frequent assaults were 
also made by the English and Huguenot colonists of the Carolinas. 
Great Britain acquired St. Augustine under a treaty with Spain 
in 1763, and made use of it as an important military station during 
the Revolutionary War. It was afterwards possessed by Spain, and 
in 1819 was ceded to the United States. 

With but little delay after making a landing and starting his 
colony, Menendez began to execute his plans for the destruction of 
the French heretics. The Huguenots thought the Spaniards would 
bring their vessels up the St. Johns and make an attack; and com- 
mitted the serious mistake of sending their few ships and nearly 
all their men down the river to anticipate the enemy by making an 
attack upon them. After the French got their ships out on the sea 
•a very heavy storm burst upon them; their ships were driven on 
the coast, and all but two of the vessels were dashed to pieces. 
Most of the men, however, reached the shore in safety. Menendez, 
having found out the unprotected condition of the Protestant colony, 
gathered his forces together, and made a secret and rapid march 
through the swamps, fell upon the surprised and helpless colony 
and slaughtered men, women and children without mercy. About 
two hundred persons were slain by the Spanish butchers, only a 



84 History of Tazewell County 

few members of tlu; colony escaping, among these their leader, 
Laudonniere, Then Menendez turned his attention to the men who 
had escaped when tlieir vessels were wrecked. They were induced 
to surrender to the Spaniards, with assurance tliat they would be 
humanely treated and their lives protected. Immediately after 
their surrender, each captive had his hands bound behind him and 
two prisoners were then tied together. They were then marched 
toward St. Augustine; and as they approached the Spanish fort a 
trumpet was sounded. Tliis was a signal for their slaughter; and 
the seven hundred unhappy prisoners were killed by the cut-throat 
minions of Menendez. With this terrible tragedy and the permanent 
establishment of the colony at St. Augustine, the period of Spanish 
voyage and discovery as to the North American Continent seems to 
have been terminated. Spain does not now own or exercise control 
over a foot of land in either of the Americas. This looks like 
retributive justice visited upon the Spanish Nation for the bar- 
barous cruelties practiced upon the aboriginal inhabitants and the 
Protestants who came from France and other countries of P'uropc 
that thej' might enjoy religious freedom in the New World. 



and Southwest Virginia 85 



CHAPTER II. 

FRENCH DISCOVEHIES AND SETTLEMENTS. 

The discoveries made by Coliindius and other navigators aroused 
great interest in France. John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland 
attracted the attention of tlie fishermen of Normandy and Brittany. 
They had heard of tlie wonderful fishing banks found about the 
shores of Newfoundland, where the schools of cod and other vari- 
ties of fishes were so great that it was difficult to steer a ship 
through them; and in 1540 these fishermen began to sail across the 
ocean to try the fishing grounds that are still famous. An adven- 
turous Frenchman by the name of Denys made a map of the Gulf of 
St. Lawi-ence in the year 1506, a hundred years before the English 
settlement was made at Jamestown. 

In 1518 P'rancis I., King of France, became interested in the 
colonization of the New World; and six years later, in 1524, a 
voyage of discovery was started out with John Verrazzano, a native 
of Florence, in command. The object of this expedition was to 
search for a northwest passage to Asia. Verrazzano began his 
voyage in January, 1524-, with a fleet of four vessels. Three of the 
ships were so badly damaged in a storm that they were compelled to 
return to France, but the determined navigator continued the voyage 
in his remaining vessel, the Dolphin. After a very rough and dan- 
gerous voyage of fifty days' duration, on the 7th of March the 
mariner came in sight of land near Wilmington, North Carolina. 
He changed his course south and hunted for a good harbor. Finding 
none, he returned northward and anchored for a few days at a point 
between the mouth of Cape Fear River and Pamlico Sound. Verraz- 
zano and his crew went on shore and met some of the native inhabi- 
tants, who were found to be of a kind and peaceable disposition. 
After a few days' stay at that place, he again sailed northward, 
exploring the coast, and entered the harbor of New York. Thence 
he sailed to the present port of Newport, Rhode Island, and made 
a stay of fifteen days, viewing and outlining the coast thereabout. 
Leaving Newport, he continued his course along and up the coast 
of New England, passed to the east of Nova Scotia, and. arrived 
at Newfoundland in the latter part of May. In July he returned 
to France and upon his arrival at home published an account of his 
discoveries which caused much excitement among his countrymen. 



86 History of Tazewell County 

The entire country whose seacoast he liad explored and mapped was 
claimed by right of discover}'^ to belong to France. 

On account of the distracted condition of the country, not until 
ten years after the Verrazzano expedition did any French explorers 
again visit America. In 1634 Chabot, Admiral of France, succeeded 
in awakening the interest of Francis I. in a scheme for exploring 
and colonizing the New World. James Cartier, a trained mariner 
of St. Malo, in Brittany, was selected to conduct the expedition. 
With two ships he left the harbor of St, Malo in April, and reached 
the shores of Newfoundland in May. Without delay he sailed 
around the island, crossed the Gulf of St. Lawrence and anchored 
in a bay, which he called Bay of Chaleurs. Failing to find the 
westward passage, that all the voyagers had sought without avail, 
he then sailed along the coast as far as the inlet of Gaspe; and 
there, upon a point of land, raised a cross with a shield and the 
lilies of France thereon. This was to notify other nations that the 
discoverer had taken possession of the country for France. In 
August, Cartier left the Bay of Gaspe and discovered the St. Law- 
rence River. On the ninth of August he started back to France and 
arrived safely at St. Malo. The report of his discoveries made 
him popular and famous in his country. 

Friends of Cartier urged the king to give tlie discoverer another 
commission and provide him with ships to make a second voyage. 
A new commission was given him, and three ships were furnished 
by the king. A number of the young nobles became volunteers to 
accompany Cartier on this voyage. The company sailed for the 
New World in May, 1535, and after a difficult and stormy voyage 
arrived on the coast. The gulf Cartier had discovered on his first 
voyage was given the name of St. Lawrence, in honor of the Saint 
of that name. Afterwards the same name was given to the great 
river which is by far the largest body of fresh water in the world. 
The St. Lawrence River, under the name of St. Louis, has its 
source in the same extensive plateau which starts the Father of 
Waters on its lengthy journey to the Gulf of Mexico and the Red 
River of the North towards Hudson Bay, It is 2,200 miles from 
its source to where the river enters the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The 
St. Louis River flows into Lake Superior and goes on through a 
succession of lakes — Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario — 
until its mighty volume pours out of Ontario and becomes the won- 
derful St. Lawrence River. It is four hundred miles from where 



and Southwest Virginia 87 

tiie St. Lawrence issues from Lake Ontario to the splendid gulf that 
bears the same name. 

After entering the river Cartier sailed up stream to an island, 
afterwards called Orleans. There he came in contact with a tribe 
of Indians of the Algonquian family. From these natives he 
received the information that farther up the river there was an 
Indian town on the Island of Hochelaga. This excited his curiosity, 
he sailed up the river in a small boat, and found a beautiful native 
village nestling at the foot of a hill. He climbed the hill, and the 
view from its summit was so mag-nificent that he immediately called 
the place Mont-Real. Upon this site the splendid city of Montreal 
now stands. Returning to his ships, Cartier and his men passed 
an unpleasant winter where they were anchored. In the spring a 
cross was put up on a point of land, bearing the emblem and the 
arms of France, and with an inscription declaring that the country 
was a possession of Francis I. The name of New France was given 
to the country. Cartier then sailed for home, and on the 6th of 
July arrived at St. Malo. His report of the character of the St. 
Lawrence regions, the very cold climate and failure to find any indi- 
cations of silver and gold, discouraged the people of France from 
further early attempts to plant a colony there. 

After a lapse of four years, under the title of viceroy and lieu- 
tenant general of New France, in 1540, Francis de la Roque, Lord 
of Roberval, was commissioned by the King of France to establish 
a colony, with regal authority in land, territories, and islands that 
were bordering on the St. Lawrence. He selected Cartier, who was 
familiar with the country, to take charge of the expedition as captain 
general and chief pilot. Cartier started out from St. Malo in the 
spring of 1541; he made a safe voyage to the St. Lawrence and 
built a fort near the site of Quebec. There the colonists remained 
through the winter, and nothing of moment having been accom- 
plished, Cartier with his ships and men returned to France. About 
the time of his depai'ture, Roberval arrived upon the scene with a 
number of colonists. He did notliing more than to verify the reports 
of former discoverers, and returned to France. 

The repeated unsuccessful attempts to found colonies on the 
St. Lawrence so discouraged the French Government that a period 
of fifty years elapsed from the failure of Roberval before another 
effort of importance was made by the French to plant a colony in 
America. There were, however, several private enterprises that 
tried to make settlements in Florida and Carolina. The most 



88 History of Tazewell County 

notable of these was conceived by Admiral Coligny, the Protestant 
admiral of Finance. He resolved to do something for the persecuted 
Huguenots of his country. In 1562 he secured from his sovereign^ 
Charles IX., the privilege of planting a Protestant colony in 
America. He selected John Ribault, a practical seaman, to take 
charge of the Huguenot expedition. It started from France in 
February and first touched on the Florida coast, and entered the St. 
Johns River. Thence the ships were sailed up the coast until they 
arrived at Port Royal on the Carolina coast. It was determined to 
make a settlement there, the colonists were landed on the island and 
a fort was erected. In honor of Charles IX. the place was called 
Carolina. A century afterward the English adopted the name and 
gave it to all the country which lies between the Savannah River 
and the southern boundar}^ of Virginia. Ribault returned to France 
for more supplies and colonists, leaving twenty-six men in the fort 
as a garrison. He failed to return with reinforcements and supplies, 
and in the spring the dissatisfied men of the garrison united and 
killed their captain, who was trying to hold them at the post. The 
mutineers constructed a rough boat they thought would prove sea- 
worthy and made a desperate attemjit to cross the ocean with the 
hope of getting back to France. They were tossed about on the 
sea for many weeks, and when nearly dead from starvation were 
rescued by an English ship and taken to the coast of France. 

Two years later Coligny, who was still hopeful of establishing 
a Protestant colony in America, started out another expedition in 
charge of Laudonniere. The colonists located on the banks of the 
St. John's River in Florida, fifteen miles west of St. Augustine. 
This colony was afterwards brutally destroyed by Menendez, the 
Spaniard, as has been related in a previous chapter. 

Again, in 1598, the government of France decided to assert its 
claims of. discovery by colonization. The Marquis of La Roche, 
under a commission from the king, undertook to locate a colony on 
Sable Island, Nova Scotia. The site was most unfavorable and the 
colonists were chiefly criminals, who had been turned out of prisons 
upon promise of enduring the hardships of a settlement in North- 
eastern America. After establishing the settlement. La Roche 
returned to France to get additional supplies and more emigrants, 
but he died shortly after arriving home. He had left about forty 
criminals at the settlement on Sable Isiaiul. They suffered frightful 
hardships on the gloomy island for seven years, but were at last 
rescued by some ])assitig ships and conveyed to France. 



and Southwest Virginia 89 

The time it seems had arrived when France was to plant a suc- 
cessful and permanent colony in the northeastern section of America. 
In the year 1603 the King of France gave a commission to De 
Monts which granted him sovereign control of that part of the 
continent which lies between the latitude of Philadelphia and one 
degree north of Montreal. In the spring of 1604 he came to 
America with a number of colonists to take possession of the magnifi- 
cent domain that had been given him by liis generous monarch. 
He reached the coast of Nova Scotia, and the captain of one of his 
ships, whose name was Poutrincourt, was so delighted with a harbor 
he discovered on the west coast that he requested the privilege of 
locating there with his family. His request was granted and he was 
given the harbor and many acres of land adjacent thereto. De 
Monts, with the remainder of the colony, crossed the Bay of Fundy, 
and built a fort at the mouth of the St. Croix River. In the spring 
of 1605 De Monts and his colony returned to the harbor where 
Poutrincourt had located. At that place, on the 14th of November, 
1605, the first permanent French settlement on American soil was 
established. The fort and harbor were named Port Royal and the 
country was called Acadia. They are now called Annapolis. 

In 1603, two years before the settlement was made at Port 
Royal by De Monts, the most noted and successful of all the French 
explorers, Samuel Champlain, made a voyage of exploration to the 
St. Lawrence country. He was the son of a sea cajDtain, was a 
trained soldier, and had on one occasion accompanied a Sj^anish 
expedition to the West Indies. A company of Rouen merchants had 
become impressed with the idea that great wealth could be won from 
the fur trade of the St. Lawrence regions ; and they employed 
Champlain to go to that country and establish a trading-post for 
them. He made the trip and chose as a site for the post and fort 
the locality where the great city of Quebec was afterwards built. 
Champlain returned to France in the autumn of 1603, made report 
to his employers, and his choice for the site of the trading-post was 
accepted. He made a second trip to the St. Lawrence for the mer- 
chants in 1608, and in July of that year laid the foundation for the 
city of Quebec. The next year he explored the great lake which 
bears his name and that will make him famous as long as civilization 
stands. Later on the intrepid explorer began to investigate the 
entire lake regions of the North and even extended his travels into 
the great unknown West. He died at Quebec in 1635. 



90 History of Tazewell County 



ENGLISH DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS. 

The discovery of the New World by Columbus excited as 
intense interest in England as it had provoked in Continental 
Europe. A Venetian by the name of John Cabot was then residing 
in Bristol. He was an accomplished navigator and was seized with 
a desire to make a voyage to the newly discovered continent. On 
the 5th of March, 1496, he was commissioned by Henry VII., King 
of England, to make explorations in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans 
under the English flag. The commission empowered Cabot and his 
three sons, or either of them, to sail east, west or north, with 
authority to take possession, in the name of the King of England, 
of all continents or islands he, or they, might discover. John Cabot 
had been a sailor from his boyhood, and was a man of adventurous 
disposition and daring spirit. In May, 1497, with a fleet of five 
vessels, he sailed from Bristol on a voyage of discovery in the 
Atlantic Ocean, accompanied by his three sons, Ludivico, Sebastiano, 
and Sanzio. On the 24th of June he came in sight of the mainland 
of the North American Continent at a point somewhere on the coast 
of Labrador. It was on St. John's Day when he sighted land, and 
was thirteen months and one week previous to the day on which 
Columbus first discovered the mainland of the American Continent 
at the mouth of the Orinoco River, South America. This is why 
many writers have insisted that John Cabot was the first discoverer 
of the American Continent. Cabot, however, was as much in error 
as to the character of his discovery as was the illustrious Genoese 
navigator. Columbus thought he had certainly reached India when 
he landed on the eastern shores of America, and that by traveling 
a westerly overland course the Ganges could be reached. Cabot 
believed the land he discovered was the eastern shore of the Asiatic 
Continent and was a part of the dominion of the Cham of Tartary. 
He explored the shore lines for several hundred miles. Finding 
no people inhabiting the land when he went on shore, he raised the 
English flag and took possession of the country in the name of 
Henry VII., King of England. After making such investigations 
as he thought necessary to determine the character and extent of the 
country, Cabot sailed for England, and arrived at Bristol, after a 
voyage that covered a little more than three months. The people 
of Bristol received him with jojous acclaim, and Henry VII. not 
only made him a very liberal donation of money, but urged the suc- 
cessful navigator to make a second voyage. Subsequently, another 



and Southwest^Virginia 91 

fleet was provided and a new commission^ with far more liberal 
provisions, was given him, but, for some reason that has not been 
explained, John Cabot never made a second voyage. He disap- 
peared from public notice; and where and when he died history does 
not record. 

In May, 1498, the same month in which Columbus started on his 
third voyage to discover the mainland of America, Sebastian Cabot, 
second son of John, sailed from Bristol with two ships on another 
exploring expedition. His company was composed largely of young 
English volunteers, the expense of the expedition being borne chiefly 
by young Cabot; and his object was to discover a northwest passage 
to Cathay and Japan. The ^'oyag•e was uneventful until he arrived 
west of Greenland, in July, wliere icebergs were so thick and dan- 
gerous that the bold navigator was forced to change his course. 
He first went ashore at a point near where his father had landed 
the year previous. From that place he directed his course south- 
ward and crossed the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In succession the coast 
lines of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Maine were explored; 
and he then sailed along the Atlantic coast from Maine to a point 
as far south as Cape Hatteras. All the country which bordered on 
the Atlantic coast as far as Cabot navigated was formally claimed 
by him for the Crown of England. For some reason the discoveries 
of the Cabots were not utilized by Henry VII. It has been sug^ 
gested by a few historians that the repeated failures to discover 
a passage to the Indies and inability to find gold and other precious 
metals, in part, made the English Government lose interest in the 
New World. Others have accounted for the strange neglect by 
citing the fact that Henry VII. was a devout Catholic and was 
unwilling to contravene the wishes and decrees of the Pope of Rome. 
At that time all the Catholic monarchs of Europe accorded the Pope 
as full power and authority in temporal matters as they did in 
spiritual affairs. The Pope, who was especially favorable to Spain, 
because it was the most zealous friend of the Church of all the 
Catholic countries, had published a bull which gave Spain first and 
complete title to all of North America, and practically all of South 
America. No matter what was the cause, the King of England 
withdrew his attention from America and made no further effort to 
assert title to any part of the New World by right of discovery. At 
his death he was succeeded as monarch by his son, Henry VIII., 
and one of the earliest acts of the young king was to surrender to 
his father-in-law, the King of Spain, the services of Sebastian Cabot. 



92 History of Tazewell County 

During the reign of Henr}- VIII.^ there were sundry attempts 
made by English mariners to discover the mythical northwestern 
passage to Asia. When the strangely constituted English monarch 
repudiated his Spanish wife, Catharine of Aragon, and abandoned 
the Roman Church, he entered his country as a vigorous rival of 
Spain for control of the New World. Then came the incipient move- 
ment to crown England "Mistress of the Seas" and make her 
supreme in the commerce of the M'orld. 

Upon the accession of Edward VI. to the throne of his father, 
Henry VIII., there was an added impulse to the maritime spirit of 
England, and that spirit was more thoroughly aroused by the recall 
from Spain of the venerable navigator, Sebastian Cabot. For "good 
service done and to be done" he was made grand pilot. But Cabot 
seems to have lost interest in the Western Hemisphere and directed 
his energies to establishing trade relations with China and with the 
theretofore unknown country of the Muscovites. It was an English 
ship that entered the icy harbor of Archangel in 1553 and disclosed 
Russia to Southern and Western Europe. Though Sebastian Cabot 
did so much for England as a discoverer, and continued her faithful 
servant until he reached an extremely old age, like that of his 
father, his death was obscure; and his burial place is not only 
unmarked, but, to the shame of the country he served so well, is 
actually unknown. 

After the death of Edward VI. his half-sister, known in history 
as "Bloody Mary", became Queen of England. In 1554 she married 
Philip, son of Charles V., heir to the Spanish throne, much against 
the will of her ministers and the Protestant element of the Nation. 
Queen Mary was the daughter of Catharine of Aragon, a devout 
Catholic and fierce supporter of tlie Papacy; and an intolerant foe 
of Protestanism. The barbarous persecutions of Protestants that 
disgraced the latter part of her reign were not sufficient, howevei*, 
to completely check the growing passion of Englishmen for mari- 
time adventure. Upon her death, in November, 1558, her half- 
sister, Elizabeth, the great "Virgin Queen," ascended the English 
throne. Her reign was a long one, lasting nearly forty-five years; 
and in accomplishment was, possibly, the most noted and splendid 
England has ever known. During the Elizabethan Period the litera- 
ture of the world was enriched by the productions of Shakespeare, 
Spencer, Bacon, and other brilliant and profound English writers. 
Martin Frobisher and Francis Drake created a new spirit of mari- 
time enterprise, and laid a foundation for building the wonderful 



and Southwest Virginia 93 

commercial and naval power England has ever since enjoyed. The 
greed of gold, that had given inspiration to all the former explorers 
of America, still existed and manifested itself in the performances 
of Frobisher and Drake, but it was under the patronage of Queen 
Elizabeth that Englishmen first made earnest effort to establish 
colonies in America. 

While Drake was occui^ied with his daring naval adventures, 
whicli Bancroft says "were but a career of splendid piracy against 
a nation with which his sovereign and his country professed to be 
at peace," Sir Humphre}' Gilbert was maturing plans for planting 
colonies in North America. He was a half-brother of Sir Walter 
Raleigh by his mother's side, and it is said bore a striking resem- 
blance to him in character. In June, 1578, Gilbert obtained letters 
patent from Queen Elizabeth, investing him, his heirs, and assigns 
with authority to discover, occupy and possess such remote "heathen 
lands not actually possessed of any Christian prince or people as 
should seem good to liim or them." He succeeded in enlisting quite 
a large company of young men, among them Walter Raleigh ; and, 
largely at his own expense, made preparation for a voyage to 
America. After he had ass'-Uibled his ships and companj^, dissensions 
arose, which caused a good many of the men to withdraw from the 
expedition. But, with a reduced number of ships and men, Gilbert 
persisted in his enterprise; and on the 19th of November, 1578, he 
sailed from England, accompanied by Raleigh, for the New World. 
In the way of accomplishments the expedition was a complete 
failure, as no report of where it went and what it did is found in 
history. Gilbert returned with his fleet to England in the summer 
of 1679. Undaunted by the failure of his first undertaking he 
launched a second expedition, assisted again by Walter Raleigh. 
The queen tried to dissuade him from the second voyage, but failing 
in that effort, commanded Raleigh, who had become a favorite of 
Elizabeth, to not accompany his brother. However, she sent Gilbert 
a letter on the ev^e of his departure, in which she wished him "as 
good hap and safety to his ship as if she herself were there in 
person." 

The fleet, consisting of five ships, sailed from Plymouth on the 
11th of June, 1583; but on the 13th one of the vessels, that had 
been built and equipped at Raleigh's expense, deserted and returned 
to port. Gilbert proceeded with his voj'age, and on the 5th of 
August landed on the coast of Newfoundland. He took formal 
possession of the country for his sovereign; and some of his men 



94 History of Tazewell County 

found in the adjacent hills pieces of mica which a mineralogist, who 
was in the company, pronounced silver. The crews of the ships 
became insurbordinate and one of the vessels was so unfit that it 
had to be abandoned. Samples of the supposed silver ore were 
taken aboard, and, with his three remaining ships, Gilbert started 
southward to make further explorations; but a storm was encoun- 
tered and the largest ship was lost near Cape Breton. It was then 
determined to return to England, with what was left of the fleet, as 
speedily as possible. At midnight, on September the 9th, a raging 
storm came upon the two little vessels, and the Squirrel, on which 
Gilbert was sailing, suddenly went down and he and his crew 
perished. 

Walter Raleigh then resolved to accomplish that which his gal- 
lant brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had striven so hard to do but 
had so unfortunately failed to perform. He obtained from Queen 
Elizabeth a patent which was more ample in its provisions than the 
one which had been issued to Sir Humphrey Gilbert. It constituted 
Raleigh lord proprietor of an extensive region in the New World. 
He concluded to profit by the failure of those explorers who had 
vainly sought a northwest passage to Asia, or to make settlements 
in the northern section of the continent. His scheme was to seek 
the more congenial clime of the South Atlantic coast, and there 
plant a colony. In pursuance of this plan, he fitted out two ships 
with ample crews and provisions and placed them under the com- 
mand of Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow. On the 27th of April. 
1584, they started on an exploring voyage to the southern mainland 
of the North American Continent. They sailed over the same cir- 
cuitous route that had been used by Columbus and other explorers — 
that is, by way of the Canaries and the West Indies. A short stop 
was made at the West India Islands, and, then, the expedition 
sailed northward. In due time, on the 4th of July, 1584, it reached 
the Carolina coast, where explorations were made for a distance of 
a hundred miles or more along the shores ; and on the 1 3th of July 
the ships were anchored in a small convenient harbor. After piously 
returning thanks to Almighty God for the safe voyage and their 
happy arrival on the delightful coast, the commanders and their 
men went on shore and took possession of the country for and in 
the name of the Queen of England. This occurred on the Island 
of Wocoken, since known in history as Roanoke Island. It was 
midsummer and the Englishmen were completely enraptured with 
the luxuriant and gorgeous vegetation, the excellent wild fruits, 



and Southwest Virginia 95 

and the salubrious climate. Amidas and Barlow explored the island, 
which is twelve miles long, to the northern end. There they found, 
as reported by them, an Indian "village of nine houses, built of 
Cedar, and fortified round about with sharpe trees to keep out 
their enemies, and the entrance to it made like a turne pike very 
artificially." This evidently was a village fortified with a stockade 
of similar character to those found by De Soto among the Choctaws 
and Chickasaws while he was exploring in their regions. 

After the commanders of Raleigh's ships had explored Pamlico 
and Albemarle Sounds and Roanoke Island, and had gathered from 
the Indians such information as could be obtained about the interior 
country, the homeward voyage was begun. They took with them 
to England two of the Indian chiefs, Manteo and Wanchese. 
Upon their arrival in England, Amidas and Barlow gave such highly 
colored descriptions of the land they had seen that the people of 
the country again became greatly interested in America. Queen 
Elizabeth was so gratified with the success of the expedition and 
charmed by the reported beauties of the newly discovered land, she 
named the coxintry Virginia, to commemorate her virgin life. 

On account of his great service to the English Nation and Crown, 
Raleigh was knighted by Queen Elizabeth; and he was also honored 
by being elected to Parliament as the representative of the county 
of Devon. In the spring of 1585 the then Sir Walter Raleigh deter- 
mined to send out a colony for settlement in the territory of which 
he was lord proprietor. One hundred or more men were selected 
for the company of settlers; and these were placed in charge of 
Richard Lane, who had been selected for governor of the colony. 
The expedition sailed from Plymouth in April and was escorted by 
seven armed ships under the command of Raleigh's coujsin. Sir 
Richard Grenville. The reason, no doubt, for this protective escort 
was, that trouble was then brewing between Spain and England, 
which culminated in a declaration of war between the two nations 
in July following. The colonists arrived safely at their selected 
destination, but a series of blunders and misfortunes made this 
first attempt to plant an English colony on the South Atlantic coast 
a deplorable failure. Lane and Grenville, accompanied by Thomas 
Cavendish, the distinguished navigator, and Hariot, historian of 
the expedition, went ashore and made an excursion of eight days 
among the Indians and along the coast. The excursionists were 
most hospitably treated by the natives; but while the party was 
visiting an Indian town a silver cup was stolen from them, and this 



96 History of Tazewell County 

trivial incident was treated so unwisely by Grenville that it was, 
possibly, the primal cause of the disasters that finally broke up the 
colony. The Indians were slow about restoring the cup to its owner, 
and Grenville, either from revenge or to intimidate the Indians, had 
the village of the natives burned and their growing corn desti-oyed. 
Shortly after this the colony was located on Roanoke Island, and 
Grenville sailed with his ships for England. 

The climate agreed with the men and the health of the colony 
was excellent, but its first year was uneventful, though Lane 
explored the country a short distance to the south, and he sailed 
as far north as Elizabeth River where it coiuiects with Hampton 
Roads. The colonists had been chiefly engaged in a mad hunt for 
gold when their first year spent at Roanoke Island had expired. 
They had grown weary while looking for supplies from England. 
About this time Sir Francis Drake, who was returning from one of 
his piratical excursions to the Spanish Main, entered Roanoke Inlet 
with his fleet of twenty-three ships. The colonists made piteous 
appeals to Drake to take them to England and he complied with 
their request. In a little over two weeks after the departure of the 
colonists, Sir Richard Grenville appeared on the coast with three 
ships and an abundance of supplies. He made a vain search for 
the colony, and, having no knowledge of its departure, left fifteen 
men on the Island of Roanoke to hold its possession, and sailed back 
to England. This practically ended the first effort to form a perma-- 
nent English colony in America. 

Sir Walter Raleigh was so much encouraged by the reports of 

Hariot, the historian of his first expedition, as to the fertility and 
beauty of his province, that he resolutely set to work to gather a 
new colony for starting and developing an agricultural community 
in Virginia. Therefore, in selecting emigrants he chose men who 
had wives and families. John White was apjiointed governor of the 
new colony, and Raleigh directed that the settlement should be 
made on Chesapeake Bay, where it was known ample harbors could 
be found. The company sailed from England in April, 1587, in a 
fleet prepared at the expense of Raleigh, and reached the coast of 
North Carolina in July. Search was made for the fifteen men 
Grenville had left there as a garrison. The houses were tenantless, 
the fort had been destroyed by the Indians, and human bones were 
lying around, indicating the fate of the fifteen men who composed 
the garrison. The order of Raleigh for locating the colony at a 
designated point on the Chesapeake Bay was brought to naught by 



and Southwest Virginia 97 

the conduct of Fernando^ the naval officer of tlie expedition. He 
refused to join White in exploring the coasts^, and sailed for the 
West Indies, leaving only one vessel with the colony. Lane, the 
governor of the first colony, had built a fort, with a group of dwell- 
ing houses about it, at the northern end of Roanoke Island. White 
and his company availed themselves of these buildings, that had been 
occupied by the fifteen unfortunate men Grenville had left on the 
island as a guard. 

The Roanoke Indians had become very suspicious and jealous 
of the white men. Manteo, one of the chiefs that had accompanied 
Lane to England, remained friendly; and as a matter of policy 
Raleigh had him invested with the title of an English baron, as 
the Lord of Roanoke. This, however, did not pacify the unfriendly 
natives, nor delay the disasters that followed; and repeated difficul- 
ties and bloody encounters occurred between the Indians and the 
colonists. Conditions became so alarming that White determined 
to go to England to procure succor in the waj^ of men and much 
needed supplies. Before he started on this mission, his daughter, 
Eleanor Dare, wife of Ananias Dare, gave birth to a daughter, on 
the 18th of August, 1587. She was the first child born of English 
parents on the American Continent, and she was named Virginia. 
About ten days after this interesting event Governor White 
embarked on his journey to England, little thinking that he would 
never again see his daughter and grandchild, or any member of the 

colony he was leaving in Virginia. At the time of White's departure 
the colony was composed of eighty-nine men, seventeen women, and 
two children, all of whom disappeared during the governor's absence. 
When he arrived in England he found intense excitement prevailing, 
occasioned by a threatened invasion from Spain. King Philip was 
then building a large fleet, which he was pleased to call the "Invinc- 
ible Armada", to be used for crushing the English navy and trans- 
porting the Spanish army to England; and which was to destroy 
Protestantism and dethrone Queen P],lizabeth. All the noted mili- 
tary and naval leaders, among them Sir Walter Raleigh, were busily 
occupied with preparation to repel the intended Spanish invasion. 
But Raleigh found time and occasion to provide Wliite with two 
ships and supplies for relief of the Roanoke colony. A company of 
men was gathered and were started out with the two ships on a 
relief voyage, but while en route became engaged with hostile ships 
in a bloody engagement. The ships were boarded by the enemy 
T.H.-7 



98 History of Tazewell County 

and robbed of all their supplies. This forced the expedition to 
return to England. The unfortunate circumstance prevented the 
sending of any succor for the Roanoke colonists until after the 
destruction of the Invincible Armada was accomplished by Eng- 
land's great sea-kings^ Drake, Hawkins, Winter, Frobisher and 
Howard. i 

It was in August, 1587, that White parted from the Roanoke 
colony and went to England to crave assistance. The prolonged 
Spanish-English War prevented him from returning to the colony 
until March, 1591, and he was forced to travel there as a passenger 
on a West Indian vessel. When he landed at Roanoke Island, it 
was nearly four years after the birth of his grandchild; but he did 
not find little Virginia Dare and her mother there, or any member 
of the colony, to give him welcome. On his departure for England 
he had directed that if anything occurred during his absence making 
it necessary for the colonists to move to some other spot, a record 
should be left by carving on a tree the name of the place to which 
they had removed; and if they were in distress, a cross was to be 
added to the inscription. The grief-stricken man found grass 
growing in the fort, and the houses grouped about it were tenantless. 
On the bark of a large tree standing near the fort he found the word 
"Croatan" carved, but no cross. Croatan was the name of a neigh- 
boring island where an Indian settlement^ known to White, was 
located. In response to his entreaties, the captain of the ship 
consented to take him to Croatan Island, where White hoped to 
find the entire body of colonists. A violent storm was encountered, 
like those that frequently come about Cape Hatteras. The ship 
was tossed about on the sea for several days, and the captain, 
despite the pleadings of his unhappy passenger, turned the prow 
of his ship toward the east and sailed for England. This was the 
last opportunity White had to seek his missing loved ones. Ever 
since, the fate of Virginia Dare, of her mother, and the Roanoke 
colony has been a topic for mucli speculation. Sir Walter Raleigh 
made five attempts to ascertain the fate of the colony but failed 
to find even a trace of it. He had already spent forty thousand 
pounds, the bulk of his fortune, in vain efforts to establish colonies 
in Virginia. Discouraged by these failures, he transferred his 
patent to a company of merchants and capitalists, some of whom 
were afterwards identified with the settlement of Jamestown. 



and Southwest Virginia 99 



CHx\PTER III. 

BIKTII OF AMKRICAN NATION ENGLISH SETTLEMENT 

AT JAMESTOWN. 

There are few things in history so edifying and pleasing to the 
investigating human mind as the birth of a nation. That great 
Semitic family known as the Hebrews, of which the Chaldean 
patriarch, Abraham, was the progenitor, for nearly four thousand 
years has been a fruitful source of pleasure and profit to students 
of mankind, though the Hebrews no longer exist as a nation. No 
matter when or where a Jew is met or seen by men of intelligence, 
he is quickly associated with the pledge given by the Great Jehovah 
to Abraham, then old and childless, that his seed should become a 
great nation, and as such inherit the Land of Canaan. 

When Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of a Vestal Virgin, 
began to build a rude wall around their little town on the Tiber, 
753 years before the Christian era, they never dreamed that they 
were laying the foundation of what would become known in history 
as the "Eternal City". Nor is it probable that they had the re- 
motest idea that from the small community of refugee murderers 
and slaves they gathered witliin the walls of their citadel, a mighty 
nation would be evolved and a splendid empire created, to stand 
for centuries as the sovereign master of the then known world. 

No epoch in the written or traditional history of our Sphere 
has been more potent in shaping the destiny of the human race 
than the birth of the marvelous American Nation. The small com- 
pany of Englishmen who, at the beginning of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, originated a crude plan for planting an English colony in 
Virginia, never imagined that from such a small business venture 
there would issue a great nation of one hundred million people. But 
within a period of three centuries following the settlement at James- 
town, the magic, giant nation was in existence, and is still here, 
growing and taking on new form and feature. It is a strangely 
composite nation, the offspring of mingled nationalities and races. 
The intermixing of Teutons, Celts, Latins, Greeks, Franks, Huns, 
Slavs, Bulgars,. Tui-ks, Armenians, Jews, and other races and 
nations, representing the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe, is 
producing that peculiar type of man, the American. Even the 
aboriginal race of the North American Continent seems destined to 
gradually disappear in this mixing process, not by extermination of 



100 History of Tazewell County 

the Indians as decreed by the pioneer settlers, but by benevolent 
absori)ti()ii. In the coming centuries the most astute etimologists 
will find themselves hopelessly entangled and puzzled when they 
try to trace the origin of the Americans. It will be impossible to 
find a common paternity for this conglomerate race, except by 
turning back to the primal origin of man. This is truly a novel 
method for nation making; and one may well inquire. What will 
be the ultimate outcome or product.'' Will the American Nation be 
welded into a homogeneous race, in which the altruistic spirit will 
be so dominant as to bring to pass the Utopian hope for the perfec- 
tion of human laws and the complete establishing of the brotherhood 
of man.^ Shall this Nation be a city set upon a hill, a beacon to 
illumine the way for other peoples as they press forward to the 
goal of national excellence? Or shall there be a realization of the 
gloomy apprehensions expressed by certain learned men of Eurojie 
more than a hundred years ago, that the discovery of America by 
Christopher Columbus and the finding of a new ocean route to Asia 
by Vasco da Gama may prove a curse rather than a blessing to 
mankind ? 

At the beginning of the seventeentli century events that 
materially aH'ected the colonization of America by the English 
people began to occur. The protracted war with Spain had come 
to a conclusion, witli complete satisfaction to England, and with 
the Spanish power, both on land and sea, very greatly impaired, 
if not broken. Elizabeth Tudor. England's great queen, passed 
away in lt)08, after a magnificent reign of nearly forty-five years. 
She was succeeded on the throne by King James of Scotland, who, 
as James I., became sovereign of England, Scotland and Ireland. 
Scarcely had King James mounted the English throne, when a foul 
conspiracy, lead by Robert Cecil and Henry Howard, was formed to 
excite the animosity of the king against Sir Walter Raleigh. The 
conspirators were successful in their malignant designs ; Raleigh was 
arrested for an old trumped-up offence, w^as confined in the Tower, 
and after a season was beheaded by the order of the crafty and vain 
little Scotchman, the unworthy successor of the great Virgin Queen. 
No blacker crime tarnishes the reign of any of the cruel or dissolute 
monarchs of England than the vicious murder of Sir Walter Raleigh, 
who was undeniably the Father of Virginia. But other strong men 
were destined to take up the work which Raleigh had so heroically 
begun of founding a mighty nation in the Western Hemisphere. 
The Earl of Southampton was released from the Tower of London 



and Southwest Virginia 101 

about the same time Sir Walter Raleigh had entered its gloomy 
portals as a prisoner. Southampton had been connected with 
Essex's rebellion in 1600, and had narrowly escaped death, though 
the noble Essex was, on the 25th of February, 1601, beheaded for 
liis foolhardy-effort to excite an insurrection against Queen Eliza- 
beth, whom he had for years served so faitlifully and gallantly. 

Southampton had become greatly interested in making a settle- 
ment in Virginia, and began to formulate plans for this undertaking. 
In 1602, though then confined in the Tower, he sent Bartholomew 
Gosnold, on a voyage of exploration to Virginia. Its territorial 
limits then extended north as far as the St. Lawrence River. 
Gosnold, with this, his first, expedition, merely visited that portion 
of the territory then known as North Virginia, now the present 
New England. 

In 1603, a company of Bristol merchants dispatched Martin 
Pring on a trading expedition to North Virginia; and about the 
same time, Bartholomew Gilbert, son of Sir Humphrey' Gilbert and 
the nephew of Sir Walter Raleigh, made a voyage to the Chesa- 
peake Bay. While coasting along its shores, young Gilbert and 
some of his companions were killed by the Indians. Another expedi- 
tion under command of Captain George Weymouth, and of which 
the Earl of Southampton and Sir Ferdinando Gorges were patrons, 
visited the present New England, then North Virginia, in 1605. He 
spent a month exploring and investigating that region, and then 
returned to England, taking with him five Indians, members of a 
tribe with whom a profitable trade had been opened. Upon his 
arrival at home, Weymouth made a report so favorable as to the 
commercial value of the country that renewed interest in America 
was aroused. This was the last voyage of exploration or prepara- 
tion made by Englishmen prior to the planting of the colony at 
Jamestown. 



Bartholomew Gosnold, who had been very much pleased with 
the soil, climate and apparently valuable resources of that part of 
the North American Continent he had visited, went actively to work 
to procure aid from other prominent men of his country for estab- 
lishing a colony in Virginia. After a time, he succeeded in getting 
Edward Maria Wingfield, a merchant, Robert Hunt, a clergyman, 
and John Smith, a soldier of fortune, in sympathy with his views 
as to the proposed enterprise. He next secured the influence of Sir 



102 History of Tazewell County 

Ferdinando Gorges^ who was a man of large wealtli, aild Sir John 
Popham^ Chief Justice of England^ to obtain from King James a 
patent^ autliorizing a company to settle a plantation in Virginia. 

On the memorable 10th of April, 1606, King James I. issued 
patent letters to certain of his subjects empowering them to enter 
and possess all tliat region of North America lying between the 
thirty-fourth and forty-fifth parallels of latitude, and extending 
-i.aiid from the Atlantic coast one liundred miles. The territory 
granted by tlie jjatent stretched northward from the mouth of Cape 
Fear River to the dividing line between the State of Vermont and 
Canada, and it was set apart for occupation by two rival companies. 
These companies were called, respectively, The London Company, 
and The Plymouth Company; and they were proprietary associa- 
tions, each member thereof being invested with a joint and several 
proprietary interest in the domain granted their respective com- 
panies. The names of but four men were mentioned in the charter 
of the London Company, as follows: Rev. Richard Hakluyt, Sir 
Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, and Captain Edward Maria 
Wingfield. Tliis company was assigned the soutliern zone of the 
territory for the establishing of its settlements. The Plymouth 
Company was authorized to locate its colony in the northern zone. 
Raleigh Gilbert, William Parker, Thomas Hanham, and George 
Popham were the four persons named in the charter of the Northern 
Company. The first colony was to confine its settlements to the 
territory between the thirty-fourth and tlie thirty-eighth degrees of 
latitude; and the second colony was to occupy the territory between 
the forty-first and the forty-fifth degrees, thus leaving a strip of 
three degrees width open to both colonies, upon certain conditions. 
There was a provision in the patent pi'ohibiting either company from 
making a settlement within a hundred miles of any other settlement 
already established by a rival company. This plan virtuall}' divided 
the granted territory into three zones, the middle one being made 
neutral. 

As the subsequent doings of the Plymouth Company will have 
but little connection with the history of Tazewell County, which I 
am writing, I will confine myself to a brief recital of the perform- 
ances of the London Company. 



The charter members of the London Company, and the associate 
shareholders of that proprietary body, fitted out three small vessels 
to be used for transporting a number of colonists to Virginia. Cap- 



and Southwest Virginia 103 

tain Christopher Newport, one of England's most skillful sailors 
and esteemed naval officers, was selected for commander of the 
expedition. 

Spain, though terribl}^ weakened by her disastrous wars, still 
asserted ownership of all the region embraced in the then defined 
bounds of Virginia ; and resented the announced purpose of England 
to make encroachments upon that territory. Zuniga, the Spanish 
ambassador to England, having heard rumors of the plans that 
were being matured by prominent Englishmen, to establish colonies 
in Virginia, forwarded a dispatch to his sovereign, Philip III, warn- 
ing him of "an unpalitable scheme" of the English, "to send five or 
six hundred men, private individuals of tliis kingdom, to people 
Virginia in the Indies, close to Florida." Sir John Popham, Lord 
Chief Justice of England, was known to be one of the promoters of 
the movement for sending "people to Virginia;" and it appears that 
the Spanisli ambassador made complaint to Popham about the 
threatened encroachments upon the American dominion of his 
sovereign. Zuniga reported that, in reply to his protests, the Lord 
Chief Justice lightly declared, that the object of the undertaking 
to establish a Virginia colony was to relieve England of a lot of 
thieves and worthless fellows, and probably get them drowned in 
the sea. 

These incidents occurred a short time previous to the issuance 
of the letters patent to the two companies. The seemingly jocular 
reply of Chief Justice Popham to the protest of the representative 
of Spain may have been intended to be taken seriously, as the 
majority of the men who came with the first band of colonists to 
Jamestown were so worthless tliat England could well afford to be 
rid of them. It is truly astonishing that tlie intelligent men who 
promoted the London Company undertook to establish a successful 
colony with such indifferent material; and it is no wonder that 
disasters which threatened the life of the enterprise were encoun- 
tered from the very beginning. No women and children accom- 
panied tlie colonists, and they brought with them no domestic animals 
or fowls. Evidently it was more of a treasure-hunting adventure 
than an agricultural and home-making enterprise. This conclusion 
is supported by the fact that while the charter gave the company 
authority to own and operate mines, it contained a provision which 
required payment to the king of one-fifth of all the gold and silver 
and one-fifteenth of all tlic copper that was found and mined. An 
impression then prc\'ailcd in England that the precious metals, 



104 History of Tazewell County 

though undeveloped, were as abundant in Virginia as the Spaniards 
had found them in Mexico and Peru. There was an absurd belief 
existing over there that nature furnished such abundant supplies of 
food over here, that men could live luxuriouslj' without toiling. 
A poem written by Michael Drayton, afterwards poet laureate of 
England, addressed as a farewell message to the London Company's 
colonists, gave expression to tlie ridiculous fancy of these Englisli- 
men. Thus spoke the poet in three of the stanzas: 

"And cheerfully at sea 
Success you still entice. 

To get the pearl and gold. 

And ours to hold 
Virginia, 
Earth's only paradise! 

"Where nature hath in store 
Fowl, venison, and fish ; 

And the fruitfull'st soil 

Without your toil. 
Three harvests more. 
All greater than your wish. 

"And the ambitious vine 
Crowns with his purple mass 

The cedar reaching high 

To kiss the sky. 
The cypress, pine. 
And useful sassafras." 

The charter which King James issued to each of the American 
colonies was ^'ery ample in its provisions for their government. A 
Royal Council, consisting of thirteen members, and appointed by the 
king, was placed in general control of the two companies ; and the 
local management of each colony was fixed with a local council also 
of thirteen members. The members of the local councils were 
appointed by the Royal Council, resident in London, and it also 
selected the presidents of the two local councils for tlie first year. 
After the first year had exj^ired, the local councils were invested 
with power to select their own presidents each year, and remove 
I hem for misconduct or inefficiency. These local councils were 
authorized to su])ply vacancies in I heir own incmhrrship caused by 



and Southwest Virginia 105 

death, removal, or resignation. A number of other imjjortant powers 
were given the local councils. Fiske, in his "Old Virginia and Her 
Neighbors/' says: 

"Power was given the colonial council to coin money for trade 
between the colonies and with the natives, to invite and carry over 
settlers, to drive out intruders, to punish malefactors, and to levy 
and collect duties upon divers imported goods. All lands within 
the two colonies were to be held in free and common socage, like 
the demesnes of the Manor of East Greenwich in the county of Kent; 
and the settlers and their children forever were to enjoy all the 
liberties, franchises and immunities enjoyed by Englishmen in Eng- 
land, a clause which was practically nullified by the failure to pro- 
vide for popular elections or any expression whatever of public 
opinion. The authority of the colonial council was supreme within 
the colonies, but their acts were liable to veto from the Crown." 

A few days before Christmas, or to be exact as to date, on the 
19th of December, 1606. the first colonization expedition of the 
London Company started from Blackwalls, England; and dropped 
down the Thames to cross the Atlantic Ocean and settle a colony 
in Virginia. The fleet consisted of three ships, with the commander, 
Captain Christopher Newport, sailing on the Susan Constant. The 
Godspeed was commanded by Bartholomew Gosnold. and the Dis- 
covert/ by John Ratcliffe. On board the three vessels, besides the 
crews, were congregated one hundred and five colonists. On account 
of "unprosperous winds" the little fleet was detained for more than 
a week in the Downs, off the Southeast coast of the county of Kent, 
a large natural harbor in which outward and homeward bound ves- 
sels took refuge to escape dangerous storms, or to await favorable 
winds. New Year's day, 1607, the fleet got away on its eventful 
and momentous voyage, which was eventually to terminate at a 
peninsula on James River, and where the cradle of the American 
Nation was decreed to be placed. 

Newport was familiar with the course or route which Columbus 
and the other first explorers of America had followed ; and sailed his 
ships by way of the Canaries and West Indies. During the progress 
of the voyage very serious dissensions arose among some of the 
leading spirits of the expedition; and tliese troubles were much 
aggravated when it became known that no one among the company 
was clothed with sufficient authority to quell the disturbances. King 
James had placed his instructions for the government of the colony, 



106 History of Tazewell County 

with the names of the men who were to constitute the local council, 
in a sealed box ; and had given positive orders that the box was not 
to be opened until the expedition reached its destination. This left 
the colonists without any designated leader to act when emergencies 
came. Trouble arose between Edward Wingfield and John Smith, 
and Wingfield made an accusati(m against Smith of plotting a 
mutiny. Smith was put in iron fetters, which he was forced to 
wear until the fleet arrived in Virginia. 

After a tedious voyage of four months' duration. Captain Newport 
entered the Chesapeake Bay and landed with a small party at the 
southern cape, which was named Cape Henry, in honor of the 
Prince of Wales, eldest son of King James. The northern cape 
was afterwards named Cape Charles, from the second son of James 
1., and whose reign, as Charles I., and as the successor of his father, 
was the most tragic and eventful in the record of England's mon- 
archs. Captain Newport took the sealed box on shore with him, and, 
when opened, the names of the local council were disclosed. Six 
persons only were named, though the charter had provided for 
thirteen members of this council. Those appointed were Bartho- 
lomew Gosnold, John Smith, Edward Wingfield, John Ratcliffe, 
John Martin and George Kendall. The malignant Wingfield and 
his associates refused to permit Smith then to act as one of the 
council, but continued to hold him a prisoner until after their arrival 
at Jamestown. At Cape Henry the colonists had their first 
encounter with the Indians. Hon. George Percy, a brother of the 
Earl of Northumberland, and a member of Newport's landing party, 
in a graphic account of the occurrences after entering the Chesa- 
peake thus describes the incident : 

"At night when we were going aboard, there came the Savages 
upon all fours, from the Hills like Bears, with their Bowes in their 
mouths, charged us desperately in the faces, hurt Captain Gabrill 
Archer, in both his hands, and a sayler in two places of the body 
very dangerous. After they had spent their Arrows and felt the 
sharpenesse of our shot, they retired into the woods with great noise, 
and so left us." 

These natives belonged to the Chesapeake tribe, and were not a 
part of the Powhatan Confederacy. According to Jefferson's Notes, 
published in 1809, their jjrincipal village was located on Lynhaven 
River, in Princess Anne County, a small stream which flows north- 
ward inio Chesapeake Bay. Slitli says in liis hislory, Ihal lluy 



and Southwest Virginia 107 

were living on the Elizabeth River, which flows into the Chesapeake 
below Norfolk. They belonged to the Algonquian family of Indians ; 
and in 1607 were estimated at one hundred warriors, or about three 
hundred inhabitants. The tribe disappeared as a distinct nation 
about the year 1669. 

The colonists remained for several days in the vicinity of Lyn- 
haven Bay, and Captain Newport, accompanied by small parties, 
made short excursions both inland and along the shores. On the 
28th of April he launched a shallop and with several companions 
started out on a trip of investigation. They discovered a point 
which put them in such "good comfort", that they named it "Cape 
Comfort". It is now known as Old Point Comfort, is at the entrance 
to Hampton Roads, and the historic Fort Monroe is located there. 
On April 30th they brought their ships to "Cape Comfort" an(; 
continued their explorations from that point, visiting the rude 
natives and partaking of their hospitality. 

Before the expedition sailed from England the Royal Council 
had Rev. Richard Hakluyt prepare lengthy written instructions for 
the guidance of the officers after their arrival in America. In these 
instructions the officers were urged to select a site for the permanent 
settlement that was healthful in its surroundings and that could be 
easily defended against attacks made by the natives or the Span- 
iards. It was thought that Spain might possibly resent and resist 
the planting of an English colony in Virginia. Therefore the 
instructions to the Local Council, in pai-t, said: 

"You must take especial care that you choose a seat for habita- 
tion that shall not be overburthened with woods near your town, 
for all the men you have shall not be able to cleanse twenty acres a 
year, besides that it may serve for a covert for your enemies round 
about. 

"Neither must you plant in a low or moist place, because it will 
prove unhealthful. You shall judge of the good air by the people, 
for some part of that coast where tlie lands are low have their 
people blear eyed, and with swollen bellies and legs, but if the 
naturals be strong and clean made it is a true sign of a wholesome 
soil". 

On the 13th of May, after a number of locations had been visited 
and inspected, the leaders chose the little peninsula as the proper 
spot for permanently establishing the colony. In most respects 
the site was the very opposite of that which the letter of instructions 



108 History of Tazewell County 

urged the officers to select. It was so low and damp that it was 
iiecessai'ily a breeder of malaria; and at high tide one half the 
point of land was covered witli water. There was no running water 
on or about it, except the river, which was so brackish at higli tide 
that it was unfit to drink. Possibly it might have been deemed well 
situated for defence against the Indians, but that was later shown 
to l)e not true. This peninsula, which is called Jamestown Island, 
is situated on the nortli side of James River, in James City County, 
and is thirty-two miles above the mouth of that river. It contains 
about seventeen hundred acres, and averages two and a half miles 
in length and three-fourths of a mile in width. On the east, west 
and south sides it is surrounded by James River, and on the north 
by Back River, the latter separating the peninsula from the main- 
land. From its founding, in 1607, until 1698, Jamestown was the 
seat of the Virginia Colonial Government. In 1698 the government 
was removed to Williamsburg. 

As soon as Captain Newport had landed the colonists, the mem- 
bers of the council, with the exception of John Smith, took the oath 
of office and organized, electing Edward Wingfield president for the 
first year. On the following day, it is said, the council put the men 
to work to build a fort and houses for the settlers. The work 
accomplished in that direction appears to have been in keeping with 
the indolent and thriftless character of the greater number of the 
emigrants. In one of his narratives about the settlement. Captain 
John Smith said: "When I went first to Virginia, I well remember 
we did hang an awning which is an old sail to three or four trees 
to shadow us from the sun; our walls were rails of wood, our seats 
unhewed trees till we cut planks; our pulpit a bar of wood nailed 
to two neighboring trees ; in fine weather we shifted into an old 
rotten tent for we had no better. The best of our houses were of 
the like curiosity but for the most part, much worse workman-ship 
that neither could well defend wind or rain." Captain Smith 
in his narrative said nothing about the fort. It is likely that the 
experienced soldier was either so amused or disgusted by the thing 
Wingfield and his associates called a fort that he scorned to men- 
tion it. Henry Howe, in his History of Virginia, thus speaks of 
the so-called fort: "The President, who seems to have been a 
very weak man, and ill suited for his station, was too jealous of his 
own men to allow exercises at arms or a fortification to be erected; 
and the only protection provided, was a sort of half -moon formed 
of the boughs of trees." 



and Southwest Virginia 109 

In the written instructions given b}' the London Council was one 
which said: "You must observe if you can whether the river on 
which you plant doth spring out of mountains or out of lakes. If 
it be out of any lake tiie passage to the other sea will be the more 
easy." 

The minds of the best informed men of England, as well as of 
Continental Europe, still clung to the fatuous belief that the dis- 
tance from the Atlantic to the other sea (the Pacific Ocean) was 
not very great; and that a water route across the North American 
Continent, connecting the two oceans, would surely be found. This 
was one of the chief motives the English merchants had for identify- 
ing themselves with exploring expeditions that came to America. 
All commercial Europe was then eagerly reaching out for the trade 
of India and other Asiatic countries. 

In obedience to the instructions of the Royal Council, Captain 
Newport took prompt steps for exploring the noble James and 
finding the source of the river. Though the local council, under the 
control of Wingfield, still refused to allow Captain Smith to enter 
upon the discharge of his duties as a member of the council, Newport 
had become impressed with Smith's abilitj', and took him along on 
the trip up the James. The exploring party, in addition to Newport 
and Smith, consisted of four other gentlemen, four skilled marines, 
and fourteen common sailors. Six days were occupied by Newport 
and his comjjany in making the voyage from Jamestown to the head 
of tidewater at Richmond. Tliey found an Indian village at the 
falls of the river, and learned that the name of the village was 
Powhatan (that is "Falling Waters"). The village consisted of 
about a dozen houses "pleasantly seated on a hill ', and the buildings 
were large clan houses, framed with wooden beams, the roofs and 
sides being covered with bark. Newport and his companions were 
kindly treated by these natives, and learned from them that Pow- 
hatan was the head-chief of a confederacy, consisting of a number 
of tribes or clans ; and that his principal town and place of residence 
was called Werowocomoco, which was afterwards found to be sit- 
uated on the north side of York River in the present county of 
Gloucester. 

Upon their return from their trip up the river, Newport and 
Smith found that during their absence the colonists had been 
attacked by hostile Indians; and that one Englishman had been 
killed and eleven wounded. For two weeks or more after this 
attack the settlers were greatly annoyed by the red men. They 



110 History of Tazewell County 

would conceal themselves in the tall grass near the fort, and with 
their bows and arrows pick off a white man at every opportunity. 
Relief was offered by friendly natives of the Powhatan tribe, who 
made the proffer of an alliance with the Englishmen to drive away 
the hostiles. The Powhatans also suggested that security could be 
obtained by cutting and burning tlie grass near tlie fort. This was 
done, and present relief resulted. The liostiles were not of the 
Powhatan Confederacy, and it is likely were a band of the Chesa- 
peake warriors. 

Captain Smith, who liad waited so patiently for a trial on the 
charges Wingfield had made against him, demanded that he be 
given an opj^ortunit}^ to have a hearing before a jury of his peers. 
Wingfield objected very strenuously to a trial, but it was accorded, 
and Smith was honorabl)^ acquitted of all the charges. Thereupon, 
on the 10th of June, he was sworn in as a member of the council 
and became the most efficient and useful member of that official body. 
The fort was completed on the 15th, and Captain Newport sailed for 
England on the 22nd, carrying back on his ships a cargo of sassa- 
fras and fine wood for wainscoting. At that time sassafras was 
very much in demand in England for its supposed medicinal quali- 
ties, and for preparing a pleasant beverage from the bark or roots 
of the shrub. The beverage was sold at daybreak by venders in the 
streets of London, under the name of Saloop. 

When Captain Newport sailed for liome he promised to return 
to Virginia in twenty weeks. It was found that there was barely 
enough food on liand, and that of a very poor quality, to sustain 
tlie colony for fifteen weeks. This made it necessary to put every 
one on reduced rations until Newport's return. By an order of the 
London Company all supplies sent over from England, and all 
produced by the labor of the colonists, were to be kej)t in a common 
stock, from which each member of the colony was to share equally. 
This communit)'^ system was to continue for five years ; and the lazy 
and worthless were put upon the same footing as the industrious 
and helpful. Under such conditions, it is no wonder that horrible 
suffering followed and continued until Newport returned -from 
England with fresh supplies. The most of the settlers were too 
indolent to avail themselves of the abundant supplies which nature 
had placed about them. That there was an abundance, which a 
Trans-Alleghany pioneer would have used to advantage, is shown 
by Hon. George Percy, one of the gentlemen of the colony. In a 
letter sent by him to a relative in England, he said : 



and Southwest Virginia • 111 

"This I'iver which we have discovered is one of the famousest 
Rivers that was ever found by any christian, it ebbes and flowes 
a hundred and three score miles where ships of great burthen may 
harbour in safetie. Wheresoever we landed upon this River, we 
saw the goodliest woods as Beach, Oke, Cedar, Cypress, Walnuts, 
Sassafras, and Vines in great abundance, which clusters on in many 
trees, and all the grounds bespread with strawberries, mulberries, 
Rasberries, and Fruits unknown, there are many branches of this 
River which runne flowing through the Woods with great plentie 
of Fish of all kinds, as for Sturgeon, all the World cannot be com- 
pared to it. There is also a great store of Deer both Red and 
Fallow. There are Beares, Foxes, Otters, Beavers, Muskrats and 
wild beasts unknowne." 

The same gentleman, Mr. Percy, who wrote the above about 
the famous river and country, was one of the number who endured 
the terrible sufferings through which the colony passed while New- 
port was over in England; and he afterwards wrote this about it: 

"There were never Englishmen left in a foreigne Countrey in 
such miserie as wee were in this new discovered Virginia. We 
watched every three nights, lying on the bare ground what weather 
soever came; and warded all the next day; which brought our men 
to be most feeble wretches. Our food was but a small Can of 
Barlie sodden in water to five men a day. Our drink cold water 
taken out of the River, which was at floud very salt; at a low tide 
full of slime and filth; which was the destruction of many of our 
men. Thus we lived for the space of five months in this miserable 
distresse, not having five able men to man our Bulwarkes upon any 
occasion. If it had not pleased God to have put a terrour in the 
Savages hearts, we had all perished by those wild and cruell Pagans, 
being in that weak estate as we were; our men night and day groan- 
ing in evei-y corner of the Fort most pitiful to heare. If there 
were any conscience in men, it would make their harts bleed to heare 
the pitifuU murmerings and outcries of our sick men without relief, 
every night and day for tlie space of six weeks; some departing out 
of the World, many times three or foure in a night; in the morning 
their bodies being trailed out of their Cabines like Dogges, to be 
buried. In this sort did I see the mortalitie of divers of our people." 

This eccentric but graphic account of the miseries of the unfor- 
tunate colonists shows clearly their unfitness for the work they had 
been selected to perform. And it emphasizes the hateful greed and 



112 History of Tazewell County 

criminal carelessness of tlie London Company for tlius placing these 
inca})al)le men in such a deplorable situation. There were but very 
few of them who had been trained to work in any way, most of them 
being of the tli"n idle class called gentlemen. They didn't know 
how to work, and, if they had known how, they were so inadequately 
supplied with implements and tools for doing agricultural or 
mechanical labor that they could have accomplished but little. It 
is not surprising, with so little food, of such a poor quality, and 
located as they were at a place reeking with miasma, that the 
colonists became the victims of deadly diseases. In August, Captain 
Gosnold died from fever, and thereupon the quarrel between Wing- 
field, president of the council, and Captain Smith was renewed. 

Shortly thereafter charges were made that Wingfield was con- 
cealing and taking from the scanty stores various luxuries, including 
wine and spirits, for the use of himself and friends. This and other 
unpojDular acts caused the council to depose him, and John Ratcliffe 
was elected president in his stead. A short time afterwards. Wing- 
field and Kendall were accused of trying to escape from the colony 
in a pinnace, and they were removed from the council. This left 
only three of the council in office, Ratcliffe, Martin and Smith. 
Though the charter of the London Company authorized and directed 
them to fill vacancies in the official body, they declined to exercise 
that power. It seems that Ratcliffe and Martin were both very 
unpopular with the colonists, and Smith was looked to as the leader 
and controller of the affairs of the settlement. He accepted the 
responsibilities of leader, and succeeded in getting affairs in order. 
The men were put to woi'k, and built more comfortable dwellings; 
and Smith secured a supply of corn from the Indians, which relieved 
the people from a continued period of starvation. 

Being again supplied with ample provisions, the indolent and 
thriftless remnant of the colony returned to their former habits of 
idleness and wastefulness. Captain Smith saw that more supplies 
would have to be secured from the Indians, and he made several 
trips in the pinnace up the Chickahominy, and possibly the James, 
and purchased an abundance of corn from the natives. Cold weather 
came on and supplies of game were obtained. Smith again ascended 
the Chickahominy, this time chiefly on an exploring expedition, and 
it was then he was made a captive and was rescued from imminent 
death by the Indian girl, Pocahontas. He was in captivity some 
five or six weeks, and upon his release returned to Jamestown. On 
the day of his return, which was the 8th of January, 1608, Captaia 



and Southwest Virginia 113 

Newport with his relief ship reached the landing at the settlement, 
bringing what was called the First Supply of men and provisions. 
Of the 105 colonists Newport left there in June, there were only 
38 surviving, sixty-seven had died from disease and want during his 
absence of six months. The First Supply added 120 to the colony, 
bringing the entire number up to 158 persons. Smith and Newport 
realized that the supplies brought over from England, with the corn 
on hand added, would not be sufficient to feed the colony through 
the winter; and they determined to try to purchase more corn from 
Powhatan. A party consisting of Smith, Newport, and others not 
mentioned, paid a visit to the old Indian chief at his home, Werowo- 
comoco, where they were cordially received and hospitably enter- 
tained. The Englishmen, Smith and Newport, succeeded in getting 
a good supply of corn, exchanging therefor glass beads and other 
trinkets that struck Powhatan's fancy. 

In the spring Newport sailed for England again, taking with 
him Edward Wingfield, the deposed and disgraced first president 
of the council. Captain Smith spent the summer of 1608 making 
explorations of the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac, Patapsco, 
and Susquehanna rivers. During his absence from Jamestown the 
affairs of the colony again got in a wretched condition, owing, it is 
said, to the incompetency and unpopularity of Ratcliffe, who was 
the successor of Wingfield as president of the council. On his return 
in September, Smith was chosen president of the council, and put 
things in pretty good shape by the time Newport got back from 
England with the Second Supply of men and provisions. Newport 
arrived on the 8th of September, and brought oyer 70 persons. The 
colony had lost 28 of its members, leaving only 130 of the 158 left 
by Newport in the spring. With the 70 new arrivals the colony 
then numbered 200. There were two women in the last company, 
a Mrs. Forrest and her maid, Anne Burroughs. The maid soon gave 
up her maidenhood by marrying John Laydon. This was the first 
recorded English marriage solemnized on the American Continent. 

Newport on this trip brought instructions from the London Com- 
pany which proved that its members were not satisfied with the 
progress of their get-rich-quick scheme. In promoting the Virginia 
colony they believed they were embarking in a very lucrative enter- 
prise; but instead it was proving a grave trouble, and a heavy loss 
as a financial proposition. So, Newport was ordereu to discover a 
new passage to the South Sea, to find a large lump of gold, to trace 
the lost Roanoke colony, or not to dare to return to England. When 
T.H.-8 



114 History of Tazewell County 

Newport sliovved tliese instructions to Captain Smith, the valiant 
captain very aptly pronounced the London Company a lot of fools. 
There was another absurd instruction given Newport, which the 
historian Fisk says: "Was grotesque enough to have emanated from 
the teeming brain of James I. after a mickle noggin of his native 
Glenlivat." This I'idiculous instruction was to the effect that 
Powhatan should be crowned as a king, and be made a vassal of 
the King of England. Smith and Newport, after preliminary 
arrangements with the Indian chief, went to Werowocomoco and 
there, in the chief's wigwam, performed a burlesque coronation cere- 
mony. They put a scarlet robe on the greasy old man, and placed 
a tinsel crown on his head. The newly crowned forest monarch sent 
his old raccoon-skin cloak as a present to his royal brother. King 
James I. Smith and Newport were very elaborately entertained by 
King Powhatan. A wonderful masquerading performance that was 
presented before the English visitors was described as follows by 
one of the party: 

"In a fayre playne field they made a fire, before which we sitting 
upon a mat, suddainiy amongst the woods was heard * * * a 
hydeous noise and shrieking. * * * Then presently we were pre- 
sented with this antickej thirtie young women came nearly naked 
out of the woods, their bodies all painted, some white, some red, 
some black, some particolour, but all differing; their leader had a 
fayre payre of buck's horns on her head, and an otter's skin at her 
girdle, and another at her arm, a quiver of arrows at her back, a bow 
and arrow in her hand ; the next had in her hand a sword, another a 
club, * * * all horned alike * * * These fiends with 
most hellish shouts and cries, rushing from among the trees, cast 
themselves in a ring about the fire, siging and damicing with most 
excellent ill varietie; * * * having spent near an houre in this 
mascarado, as they entered in like manner they departed. Having 
reaccomodated themselves, they solemnly invited us to their lodg- 
' ings, where we were no sooner within the house but all these 
nymphes more tormented us than ever, with crowdmg, pressing, and 
hanging about us, most tediously crying. Love you not me'i^ This 
salutation ended, the feast was set, consistmg of fruit in baskets, 
fish and flesh in wooden platters; beans and peas there wanted not, 
nor any salvage dainty their invention could devise. Some attend- 
ing, others singing and dancing about us; which mirth and banquet 
being ended, with firebrands for torches they conducted us to our 
lodguag." ^ 



and Southwest Virginia 115 

These impersonators of the wood nymphs were Pocahontas and 
other maidens of the tribe. The Indian princess was then just enter- 
ing her teens; and had no thought at the time she was "Masca- 
radoing" for the amusement of a company of English adventurers, 
that she would very soon thereafter become a leading character in 
a drama, with a continent for its stage and a mighty nation its 
theme. She saved the life of Captain John Smith by placing her 
own head upon his to shield him from the impending blows of Indian 
bludgeons; and helped him save the life of the Jamestown colony 
when threatened with destruction from starvation and other perils. 
Nor did the dusky maiden dream when cooing to a pale-faced guest 
of her father, "Love you not me.^" that in a little while she would 
be made the bride of a white gentleman and have introduction to 
proud Albion's nobility and royalty; and would become the historic 
ancestress of some of Virginia's most distinguished sons, and even 
of the beautiful wife of a President of the United States. 

Captain Newport made an ineffectual effort to discover a route 
to the Salt Sea that was believed to be not far beyond the mountains. 
Although Smith tried to dissuade him from the attempt he went 
upon a trip of discovery above the falls of James River, but returned 
with his party without even reaching the Blue Ridge Mountains. 
Smith went energetically to work to provide a cargo to send to 
England, which was composed of tar, pitch, glass and boards; and 
Newport again started on a home voyage, taking along Ratcliffe, 
the second deposed president. Captain Smith sent by Newport a 
letter to the Royal Council in London in which he set forth the 
mistakes that prevented the success of the colony. In part, he said : 

"When you send again I introat you to send but 30 carpenters, 

husbandmen, gardeners, fishermen, blacksmiths, masons, and diggers 

up of trees, roots, well provided, rather than 1,000 of such as we 

have; for except we be able both to lodge them and feed them, the 

most will consume with want of necessaries before they can be good 

for anything. 

» * * 

"These are the causes that have kept us in Virginia from laying 
such a foundation as ere this might have given much better content 
and satisfaction; but as yet you must not look for any profitable 
returns ; so I humbly rest." 

Captain Smith had a very quaint style of expressing his views, 
but he managed to inform the Royal Council that they were respon- 



lit) History of Tazewell County 

sible for the ill success of the colony; and also to tell them they 
should expect no profitable returns from their venture until a change 
was made in the character of the emigrants that were being sent 
across the waters to Virginia. He put all the men to work with 
the assurance that: "He who would not work, might not eat;" and 
Jamestown began to assume an appearance of life and thrift. We 
are told that they "digged and planted" twenty or thirty acres in 
corn, and cultivated it under the instructions of two friendly Indians. 
This was a pretty big job, especially the digging of thirty acres 
with hoes; and it shows how impractical and careless the Royal 
Council had been in not providing horses or oxen to plow and culti- 
yate the land. 



At the request of the London Company a new or second cliarter 
was, on the 23rd of May, 1(509, gi-anted the company, which changed 
its form of management and made material alterations in the bound- 
aries of Virginia. The company was changed from a proprietary 
organization to a corporate body, to be known as the "Treasurer and 
Company of Adventurers and Planters of the Citj'^ of London for 
the First Colony in Virginia." All the power of control which was 
reserved by the king in the first charter was transferred to the com- 
pany, and the management of the Virginia Colony was committed to 
a Supreme Council to be chosen by the shareholders and to reside in 
England. This Supreme Council had authority to legislate for the 
colony and to appoint a governor and council to conduct its local 
affairs. The new charter gave to the corporate body "all those 
Lands, Countries and Territories situated, lying and being in that 
part of America called Virginia, from the Point of Land called Cape 
or Point Comfort, all along the Sea Coast to the Northward 200 
miles, and from said Point of Cape Comfort, all along the Sea Coast 
to the Southward 200 miles, and all that space and circuit of Land, 
lying from the Sea Coast of the Present aforesaid, up into the land, 
throughout from Sea to Sea, West and Northwest, and all the islands 
lying within 100 miles along the coast of both Seas of the Precinct 
aforesaid." This extended the territory of Virginia to the Pacific 
Ocean, and to the Great Lakes. 

LTpon its reorganization the company selected Sir Thomas 
Smith, a prominent London merchant, for treasurer of the corpora- 
tion, and Thomas West (Lord Delaware) for governor of Virginia. 
Smith and Lord Delaware were both men of very fine character, 
and their appointment to these high executive offices bespoke better 



and Southwest Virginia 117 

days for the Jamestown colony. As soon as the new cliarter was 
secured steps were taken to organize another expedition; and some 
500 persons, men, women, and children, were induced to cross the 
ocean and become settlers in Virginia. A fleet of nine vessels, with 
ample supplies, was assembled, and Captain Newport, the able 
mariner, was placed in charge. He sailed with his fleet from Eng- 
and in June, 1609. and in August the Third Supply, 300 or more 
persons, reached Jamestown. The balance of the emigrants were 
on the ship Sea Venture, along with Sir Thomas Gates and Sir 
George Somers, wlio were sent out b}' the company to give personal 
supervision to the colony. Their vessel was separated from the 
balance of the fleet and was wrecked by a storm on the coast of the 
Bermuda Islands. This part of the expedition had to remain in 
the Bermudas for nearly a year. They built small vessels and suc- 
ceeded in getting to Jamestown on May 10th, 1610. 

The failure of Gates and Somers to reach Jamestown with the 
main part of the expedition left the control of the colony in the 
hands of Captain Smith. He soon found out that the newly arrived 
emigrants were very much inferior to the former ones, of whose 
quality he had complained to the London Company. The new- 
comers were largely of the shiftless vagabond class, whom Smith 
described as "imruly gallants packed thither by their friends to 
escape ill destenies." 

President Smith had never approved of the Jamestown site for 
the colony, because of its unhealthy, marshy surroundings; and he 
determined to hunt a better situation. With this end in view, hu 
sailed up the James to the Indian village called Powhatan, and 
purchased from the Powhatan tribe a tract of land close to where 
the city of Richmond now stands. Because of its beautiful and 
pleasant location he named the place "Nonesuch". While he was 
returning to Jamestown, Smith was severely injured by the accir 
dental explosion of a bag of gunpowder. The wounds he received 
were so severe that he was compelled to go to England for surgical 
treatment, and early in October he sailed on the home voyage; and 
this severed finally his official connection with the first Virginia 
colony. Smith left George Percy in command, but that gallant 
gentleman did not liave the executive ability or the qualities of 
leadership needed to control the 500 colonists, most of whom were 
unruly vagabonds. Trouble arose with the Indians and the red 
men slew the settlers at every opportunity. The disreputable 



118 History of Tazewell County 

Ratcliffe and thirty of his associates were killed at one time while 
on a trading visit to the Pamunkey village. 

When winter came on more cabins were needed, but the men 
were too worthless to build them, and some of the colonists died from 
exposure. Then, what was afterwards called "The Starving Time" 
came on. The supply of food became exhausted, Percy was sick, 
Smith was in England, and famine, in most horrid form, took pos- 
session of the settlement. For a short time the people subsisted 
on herbs and roots. Then they resorted to the horrible practice of 
cannibalism. A slain Indian was boiled and eaten, and starving 
men began to cook and eat their own dead. One brute killed his 
wife, salted her down, and had eaten a part of her body when his 
fiendish act was discovered, and he was burned at the stake by 
outraged though starving citizens. McDonald in his "Life in Old 
Virginia," says: 

"Smith left in Virginia three ships and seven boats, a supply 
of commodities ready for trade with the Indians, a goodly supply 
of corn newly gathered, provisions in store for the colony, three 
hundred muskets with other arms and ammunition, nets for fishing, 
tools of all sorts for work, apparel to supply their wants, six mares 
and a horse, more than five hundred hogs, as many hens and cliickens 
and some sheep and goats." 

It is almost incredible that nearly five hundred persons could 
have been gathered together from any part of the world, and espec- 
ially from England, as incapable and helpless as these colonists. 
There were four hundred and ninety persons in the colony when 
Captain Smith left in October, 1610; and when Gates and Somers 
arrived in May, IGll, only sixty were left. Vice, sickness, indolence, 
and famine had accomplished their deadly work; and if relief had 
been delayed a few days longer there would have been none left to 
tell the deplorable fate of the settlement. Gates and Somers were 
struck with horror by the conditions they found, and readily con- 
sented to take the miserable people back to England. Tearfully 
the captains realized that Virginia must be abandoned, and they 
got the people aboard their small vessels, with the intention of sailing 
to the coast of Newfoundland, to get a supply of fish, and then 
cross the ocean to England. On the 7th of June they dropped with 
the tide down James River and spent the night at Mulberry Island 
The next morning anchors were weighed and the expedition started 
again on the homeward journey; but at noon, when they were 



and Southwest Virginia 119 

entering Hampton Roads, they discovered in the distance a small 
boat approaching. It proved to be the longboat of Lord Delaware, 
who was coming to take up his work as the first governor of Vir- 
ginia. He had with him three ships well stocked with supplies, 
and the colonists were easily persuaded to return to Jamestown and 
resume the effort to make a permanent settlement in Virginia. On 
the morning of the 8th they were landed at the desolate place so 
recently deserted; and Lord Delaware fell upon his knees, raised 
his hands toward heaven and devoutly thanked God for permitting 
him to reach Virginia in time to save the life of the colony. 

The first act of Lord Delaware upon landing was to have a 
religious service held. After a sermon had been preached, the 
governor read his commission and made a speech to all the people, 
in which he censured the old settlers for their vanities and idleness, 
and gave them to understand that under his administration the 
vicious and slothful would receive no mercy. He put the men to 
work building new fortifications and repairing the houses, and the 
little church was made neat and attractive again. A bell was hung 
at a convenient point, to take the place of a clock, and was rung to 
regulate the hours of work ; and system and order were established 
in the settlement. The winter of 1610-11 was in many respects a 
hard one for the colony, but was not as severe as the previous one. 
Still, about 150 of the settlers died during the winter, and Lord 
Delaware's health was so greatly impaired that he was compelled 
to return to England. For a short time George Percy was again 
left in command. Captain Newport made another trip to the colony 
in March, this time bringing 300 emigrants who were more shift- 
less and worthless than any of the previous supplies. Sir Thomas 
Gates was appointed deputy governor, but for some reason could 
not at that time come to Jamestown ; and Sir Thomas Dale, with 
the title of High Marshal of Virginia, was sent over to take charge. 

For the next five years Dale ruled the colony. Lord Delaware, 
the governor, remaining in England during the time. The High 
Marshal proved himself well suited for the task given him. By 
his great energy, indomitable will and splendid common sense, he 
brought order out of chaos, and put the Virginia colony once more 
on the road to permanency. When he reached Jamestown he found 
the men idling away their time playing games, instead of planting 
and cultivating the soil. A severe code of laws was immediately 
prepared and put in force to stay the idle and vicious dispositions 
of the men; and a number of offenses were punished with death. A 



120 History of Tazewell County 

plot to overthrow and kill Dale was formed by Jeffrey Abbot and 
other desperate characters. The plot was discovered and Abbot 
and four of his companions were executed. In the fall of 1611, 
six months after Dale took charge, another supply of settlers was 
brought over, and the colony then numbered about eight hundred 
persons. A good stock of cows, oxen and goats was also added to 
the increasing resources of the colony. The idea of expansion from 
the Jamestown colony followed, and a settlement was made at tlie 
mouth of James River where the present town of Hampton is now 
located. This is the oldest continuous settlement, save two, in the 
United States, St. Augustine, Florida, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. 
It seems that Sir Thomas Dale thought, as did Captain Smith, that 
a more favorable site should be selected for the colony. So believ- 
ing, he selected the Dutch Gap peninsula farther up the James and 
built a town there. He called the place Henricus, after the then 
Prince of Wales, and erected fortifications and houses for three 
hundred persons. Other settlements wei*e made at Bermuda and 
Shirley Hundreds on James River, and at Dale's Gift near Cape 
Charles on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The establishment of 
these new settlements was "a strong assurance that the colonization 
of Virginia had become permanent. 

The London Company applied to King James for a new charter, 
and on the 12th of March, 1612, it was granted by the king, and is 
known as the Third Charter. The company wanted to get posses- 
sion of the Bermuda Islands and to secure for its members fuller 
and more direct management of the affairs of the corporation ; and 
these two things as well as many others of importance were secured 
by the Third Charter. In this same year another important event 
in the history of Virginia occurred, it being the marriage of John 
Rolfe, the English gentleman, to Pocahontas, the uneducated Indian 
girl, the daugliter of Powhatan. Rolfe and his English wife were 
among the emigrants who were cast on the Bermuda Islands when 
the Sea Venture was wrecked on the coast of those islands. They 
came from the Bermudas to Jamestown with Gates and Somers in 
May, 1610. Soon after they arrived in Virginia, Mrs. Rolfe died; 
and later on her widowed husband became the lover of the dusky 
Indian girl, who had been made a captive by Captain Argall and 
held as such at Jamestown. Rolfe did not wish to marry a heathen; 
and Pocahontas was baptized into the Christian faith and given the 
Bible name, Rebekah. The marriage was celebrated in the church 



and Southwest Virginia 121 

at Jamestown, and witnessed by a mixed company of Indians and 
Englishmen. 

It is said that Rolfe was the first Englishman who cultivated 
tobacco for commercial purposes. He and his Indian wife went 
to England in 1616 in the same vessel with Sir Thomas Dale after 
he vacated the office of High Marshal of Virginia. Pocahontas 
became a popular society rage in London, where she was entertained 
and banqueted by English royalty and nobility. In 1617, when 
Argall was appointed deputy governor of Virginia, Rolfe was 
made secretary for the colony. On the eve of his sailing for Vir- 
ginia, Pocahontas became suddenly ill and died at Gravesend, and 
was buried in the parish church at that place. She had one child, 
Thomas Rolfe, who remained in England with an uncle until he 
attained his manhood. He then came to Virginia and settled per- 
manently, and became the ancestor of some of the most prominent 
families in the State. 

In 1616 George Yeardley was in Virginia as deputy governor, 
and succeeded Sir Thomas Gates as acting governor; and adminis- 
tered the affairs of the colony until Captain Samuel Argall was 
appointed deputy governor in 1617. Argall's -administration was 
brief and very unsatisfactory. He ruled with as much severity as his 
predecessor. Dale, but his condu.'t of the office was unscrupulous and 
dishonest. After serving one year, Argall was recalled by the 
company, and Lord Delaware was directed to again take personal 
charge of the colony. Delaware sailed from England in the spring 
of 1618 to resume his duties as governor. He was accompanied by 
200 emigrants and traveled by way of the Azores. While they 
were making a short stay at St. Michael Island, Lord Delaware and 
thirty of his companion voyagers became violently ill and died. 
There was a strong suspicion that they were poisoned by the Span- 
iards who entertained them at St. Michael's. 

Up to 1612, no member of the colony was permitted to enjoy 
private ownership of land. Sir Thomas Dale then became con- 
vinced that the community system, which had been enforced since 
the founding of the colony, had proved the principal cause of the 
suffering from starvation, in that it discouraged the industrious and 
encouraged the lazy in their indolent habits. Acting upon tb'' 
belief, he made distribution of small portions of land to each settler 
to work for his own benefit, but required that a certain portion of 
the products sliould be turned into a general store to be used for the 
common benefit in an emeraencv. 



122 History of Tazewell County 

George Yeardley was knighted and appointed governor of Vir- 
ginia to succeed Lord Delaware. In lol9 the colony had increased 
to 2.000 persons; and the people demanded that they should be 
accorded local self-government, and the request was granted. Gov- 
ernor Yeardley was directed to issue writs for the election of a 
General Assembly in Virginia. Writs were issued for an election 
of representatives from eleven local constituencies or boroughs, which 
were designated as City, Plantation, and Hundred; and each con- 
stituency was given two representatives, who were called burgesses. 
This gave the name, House of Burgesses, to the Assembly, whicli 
name continued in use from 1619 until the Revolutionary War in 
1776. The eleven boroughs that sent representatives were James 
City, Charles City, the City of Henricus, Martin Brandon, Martin's 
Hundred, Lawne's Plantation, Ward's Plantation, Argall's Gift, 
Flowerdien Hundred, Smith's Hundred, and Kecoughtan. Soon after- 
wards the name of Smith's Hundred was changed to Southampton 
Hundred and Kecoughtan was changed to Hampton. The assembly, 
in addition to the twenty-two elective members, had an upper house, 
which was composed of the governor, deputy governor and an assist- 
ant council, and altogether they constituted a General Assembly. 
The body was invested with both legislative and judicial functions 
and had full authority for legislating for the colony ; but its acts had 
to be approved by the General Court of the London Company before 
they were enforced. On July the 30th, 1619, the General Assembly 
of Virginia met for organization and business in the church at 
Jamestown, and was the first legislature that assembled in the 
English colonies of America. 



During the year 1619, other events of importance affecting the 
future of the colony and Virginia occurred. One of these was the 
introduction of African slaves, which came soon after the right of 
local self-government had been accorded the colony, and a short 
time after the first sitting of the General Assembly. John Rolfe. 
who was then secretary of the colony, said: "About the last of 
August there came in a Dutchman of warre that sold us twenty 
negars." Five years later a census showed that there were only 
twenty-two negroes in the colony, and the increase of slaves came 
very slowly in Virginia. 

The next most important event was the bringing of a ship-load 
of young women-spinsters, selected with care as to character and 
in charge of matrons, to become wives for the unmarried men who 



and Southwest Virginia 123 

were greatly in the majority in the colony. These young women 
were left free to select their own husbands^ and had no trouble 
finding plenty of suitors; but no accepted suitor could marry his 
girl until he had paid the company 120 pounds of tobacco to cover 
the expense of transporting her to Virginia. This matrimonial 
experiment resulted so happily that the practice of bringing over 
wives for the bachelors was continued; and the following year 
"Sixty young maids of virtuous education, young, handsome, and 
well recommended", were imported. This resulted in the estab- 
lishing of many pleasant homes, and naturally increased immigra- 
tion. In 1622 the population had become four thousand, the culti- 
vation of tobacco had been made an important and profitable 
industry, domestic ties were strengthened, habits of thrift super- 
seded the indolent and wasteful customs that had prevailed, and 
cheerful comfort chased away the gloom and squalor that threatened 
the life of the colony. 

Other incidents of importance in this eventful year of the colony 
occurred. A college was established in Henrico for the purpose of 
educating and converting the native children to Christianity. King 
James, through the various Bishops of England, collected a fund 
of fifteen thousand pounds for endowing the institution; and the 
London Company donated 10,000 acres of land to enlarge the 
design of the college by providing for the education of the white 
children of the colony. 

Cordial relations had existed between the Indians and colonists 
for several years previous to 1622. Powhatan died in 1618, and 
was succeeded as head-chief of the confederacy by his brother 
Opechancanough. The latter was never friendly to the whites, but 
had been held in restraint by Powhatan. Early in 1622 Opechan- 
canough secretly planned the destruction of the colony. He and 
his people had become very restless and resentful as they witnessed 
the growing streng-th of the colony and saw the best lands of the 
Indians appropriated by the white settlers. An Indian chief, to 
whom the English had given the name of Jack of the Feather, 
killed one of the colonists, and he was killed by the whites in 
requital. Opechancanough and his associates then formed a con- 
spiracy to destroy the entire colony on a certain day. On the 22nd 
of March, 1622, the Indians made a concerted attack upon the 
colonists, and killed 347 persons. The red men failed to accom- 
plish their fell purpose, as two thousand five hundred persons were 
saved from the general massacre. However, the colonists were so 



124 History of Tazewell County 

fearful of another attack that they abandoned seventy-two of their 
plantations and huddled together on eight. They also abandoned 
their college and their infant manufacturing establishments, and 
confined their cultivation of tlie soil to such a limited area that 
enoug]) food could not be produced to support the people. Again 
much sickness and want prevailed in the cokmy. But the London 
Company came to the partial relief of the colony by sending over 
supplies of food, and King James sent them a lot of old muskets. 
In a short while the colonists recovered from their panic, and sent 
a military expedition of three hundred men to punish the Indians for 
the brutal massacre of the settlers. The natives fled from their 
homes on the approach of the avenging expedition, taking with 
them most of their corn; but the whites destroyed many of their 
villages and a great deal of their property. At the following ses- 
sion of the General Assembly a law was enacted which directed 
that at the beginning of the next July the inhabitants should attack 
and kill all savages in their respective neighborhoods. Tiiis war of 
extermination, or driving back of the natives to the wild forests, 
was continued without intermission until a peace was concluded 
with the Indians in 1G32. By the provisions of this treaty the 
whites retained all the habitations and cleared lands they had taken 
from the natives, who were forced to take refuge in the forests and 
marshes. 

In 1623 the London Company realized that the affairs of the 
colony had not been successfully managed, and sought to correct 
the management by a reorganization of the corporation. During 
the sixteen preceding years ten thousand persons had been trans- 
ported to Virginia and only a little more than two thousand remained 
after the massacre by the Indians. From a business standpoint the 
colony had proved a decided failure, as the annual exjDorts amounted 
to no more than one hundred thousand dollars. King James, who 
was greatly displeased with the liberal democratic government the 
company had given the colonists, determined to annul the charter 
and establish a royal government in Virginia. His plans to this end 
were carried out through the employment of five commissioners, who 
were sent to Jamestown to investigate the management of the colony 
from the time the first settlement was made. These commissioners 
were appointed b)'^ the king, and were: John Harvey, John Pory, 
Abraham Piersey, Samuel Matthews and John Jefferson. They 
were instructed: "To make more particular and diligent inquiry 
touching divers matters, which concerned the state of Virginia; and 



and Southwest Virginia 125 

in order to facilitate the inquiry, the governor and council of Vir- 
ginia were ordered to assist the commissioners, in this scrutiny, by 
all their knowledge and influence." Thus began the artful scheme 
of the crafty king to take from the Virginia colony its right of 
self -government. 

The commissioners, as appointed, came to Jamestown and tried 
to get the General Assembly to petition the king for a revocation 
of the charter of the company. Failing to secure the petition from 
the General Assembly, the commissioners returned to England and 
made a false and defamatory report as to existing conditions in Vir- 
ginia. To this report the General Assembly made a spirited denial 
and drafted a petition to the king in which it was prayed, "that 
the governors may not have absolute power, and that they might 
still retain the liberty of popular assemblies, than which, nothing 
could more conduce to the public satisfaction and public utility." 
This petition, however, never reached King James, as Mr. Pountis, 
a member of the Colonial Council, to whose care it was entrusted, 
died while on his passage to England to deliver it to the king. The 
king instituted quo warranto proceedings in the King's Bench for 
the purpose of divesting the London Company of its corporate privi- 
leges and powers, and for the dissolution of the company. The 
cause was tried at the Trinit)^ Term of the court in 1624, and all 
the demands of King James were granted by a decree of Lord 
Chief Justice Ley, who was a mei'e creature of the king. Dissolu- 
tion of the company occasioned very little change in the government 
of the colony. A committee was appointed by the king to exercise 
the functions previously performed by the London Company. Sir 
Francis Wyatt was reappointed governor, and he and his council 
were empowered to govern the colony "as fully and amply as any 
governor and council resident there, at any time within the space of 
five years last past". Strange to relate. King James refused to 
appoint as members of the new council for Virginia any of the 
extreme partisans of his court faction, but selected men of conserva- 
tive views for the government of the colony. 

The dissolution of the London Company did not weaken the 
colony, but upon the contrary strengthened it by making it more 
self-reliant and independent in action. Factional fights for its 
control by antagonistic leaders of the company had been contin- 
uous from the date of the first settlement at Jamestown ; and the 
selection of incapable, and in some instances very corrupt, men to 
administer its affairs had greatly retarded its success. At first the 



126 History of Tazewell County 

colonists were greatly alarmed by the dissolution of the company, 
fearing that it might take from them their House of Burgesses and 
deprive them of the already cherished form of representative self- 
government. The General Assembly was invested with both legisla- 
tive and judicial authority and had not failed to exercise freely 
these important functions. Fiske, in "Old Virginia and her Neigh- 
bors", writes very interestingly a,bout the first American legislative 
body ; and among other things says : 

"The place of meeting was the wooden church at Jamestown, 
60 feet in length by 20 in width, built in 1619, for Lord Delaware's 
church had become dilapidated; a solid brick church, 56 by 28, was 
built there in 1639. From the dijfTerent plantations and hundreds 
the burgesses came mostly in their barges or sloops to Jamestown. 
In 1634 the colony was organized into counties and parishes, and 
the burgesses thenceforth represented counties, but they always 
kept their old title. At first the governor, council, and burgesses 
met together in a single assembly, just as in Massachusetts until 
1644, just as in England the Lords and Commons usually sat 
together before 1339. A member of this Virginia parliament must 
take his breakfast of bacon and hoe-cake betimes, for the meeting 
was called at the third beat of the drum, one hour after sunrise. 
The sessions were always opened with prayers, and every absence 
from this service was punished with a fine of one shilling. The 
fine for absence during the whole day was half a crown. In the 
choir of the church sat the governor and council, their coats trimmed 
with gold lace. By the statute of 1621, passed in this very church, 
no one was allowed to wear gold lace, except these high officials 
and the commanders of hundreds, a class of dignitaries who in 1634 
were succeeded by the county lieutenants. In the body of the 
church, facing the choir, sat the burgesses in their best attire, with 
starched ruffs, and coats of silk or velvet in bright colours. All sat 
with their hats on, in imitation of the time-honoured custom of 
the House of Commons, an early illustration of the democratic 
doctrine, 'I am as good as you'. These burgesses had their speaker, 
as well as their clerk and sergeant-at-arms. * * * From sweep- 
ing principles of constitutional law down to the pettiest sumptuary 
edicts, there was nothing which this little parliament did not super- 
intend and direct." 

During the first years of its existence the House of Burgesses. 
in the exercise of its very ample powers, enacted a number of 



and Southwest Virginia 127 

peculiar laws. Some of these laws were fundamentally sound, some 
were absurd in their intendment, and others sharply in conflict with 
the principles of democratic government, toward which the colony, 
even in its early life, seemed to be traveling. The tax question was 
then, comparatively, as momentous as it is today with the average 
citizen and the aspiring politician. One of the first acts of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, which was passed without a dissenting voice, was a 
declaration, "that the governor shall not lay any taxes or imposi- 
tions upon the colony, their lands or commodities, otherway than 
by the authority of the general assembly, to be levied and employed 
as the said assembly shall appoint." This was a wise protection of 
the functions of the legislative branch of the government from 
encroachments by the executive branch thereof. 

Moved by a humane and philanthropic spirit, the assembly passed 
a law looking to the conversion and education of the young savages. 
The act provided for the procurement from each borough of a cer- 
tain number of Indian children to be educated "in true religion and 
a civil course of life; of which children the most towardly boys in 
wit and graces of nature are to be brought up by them in the first 
elements of literature, so as to be fitted for the college intended for 
them, that from thence they may be sent to that work of conversion." 
This was conforming to the scheme of 1619 for establishing a col- 
lege in Henrico for the Indians, to which enterprise the Bishops of 
England had contributed fifteen thousand pounds and the London 
Company 10,000 acres of land; and was completely at variance with 
the laws passed by the assembly, after the frightful massacre of 
1622, encouraging the extermination of the Indians. 

Very rigid laws were enacted to prevent drimkenness, forbidding 
extravagance in dress, and to suppress flirting, the latter being con- 
sidered a very grave social crime. For the first offence, a drunkard 
was privately reproved by the minister; the second time he was 
publicly admonished; for the third offence he was put in irons and 
made to pay a heavy fine; and for subsequent violations of the 
statute he was placed at the mercy of the governor and the council, 
who were to punish him severely in their discretion. Extravagance 
in dress was made a misdemeanor, for which an unmarried man was 
taxed for public purposes "according to his own apparel," and a 
married man "according to his own and his wife's apparel." In 
these days, when women have acquired the right to vote in many of 
the States of the Union, with the prospect of soon obtaining the 
exercise of suffrage in every State, the average male legislator would 



128 History of Tazewell County 

be slow in voting for a measure to regulate the dress of women, but 
would hastily cast himself in the midst of the great temperance wave 
that is sweeping over our country and the entire civilized world. 

The law against flirting declared that "'every minister should 
give notice in his church that what man or woman soever should use 
any word or speech tending to a contract of marriage to two several 
persons at one time * * * as might entangle or breed scruples 
in their consciences, should for such their offenses either undergo 
corporal correction (by whipping) or be punished by fine or other- 
wise, according to the quality of the person so offending." Possibly 
this law was suited to the times, but it would now be regarded as a 
disgrace to any civilized community; and the act was particularly 
obnoxious for the reason that the punishment to be inflicted was 
measured "according to the quality of the person so offending." 
The common folks were to be whipped and the gentle people were 
to be fined. 

To say anything offensive about the governor or a member of 
the council was a misdemeanor, for which the offender was placed in 
the pillory. The planters were not allowed to sell any part of their 
tobacco crops until they had put aside a certain portion for the 
minister's salary. There was a law which said "No man shall 
disparage a mynister whereby the myndes of his parishioners may be 

alienated from him and his mynistrie prove less effectuall upon 
payne of seveere censure of the governor and councell." From the 
class of "mynisters", then inflicted upon the colony it would seem 
that they were worthy subjects for disparaging remarks. At least 
the General Assemblj'^ must have thought so, as it was necessary for 
that august body to give warning to the clergyman by a statute 
which said: "Mynisters shall not give themselves to excess in drink- 
ing or ryote, spending their time idelie by day or night jjlaying at 
dice, cards, or any unlawfull game." Evidently the "mynisters" 
were more at home in the tavern or at the gambling ta])le than in 
the pulpit. 

In recent years there lias been much controversy over the ques- 
tion of government regulation of the sale of food products and other 
articles. The General Assembly of the Virginia colony exercised 
that power without its authority to do so being questioned. A law 
was made fixing retail prices for wines and other liquors. The 
preambk of the act said: "Wliereas there hath been great abuse 
by the unreasonable rates enacted by ordinary keepers, and retaylers 
of wine and strong waters", and the assembly proceeded to fix 



and Southwest Virginia 129 

maximum prices for these commodities. The penalty for a violation 
of the law was a fine of double the rate charged by the venders. 

The House of Burgesses also passed a very stringent law to 
suppress the speculators^ or as they were then called "forestallers", 
in foodstuffs and other necessary articles. The act said: "Wliat- 
soever person or persons shall buy or cause to be bought any mar- 
chandize^ victualls^ or any other thinge^ comminge by land or water 
to markett to be sold or make any bargaine, contract or promise for 
the haveinge or buyinge of the same * * * before the said 
marchandize^ victualls, or other thinge shall be at the markett 
readie to be sold; or make any motion by word, letter or message 
or otherwise to any person or persons for the enhansing of the price 
or dearer sellinge of any thinge or thinges above mentioned^ or else 
disswade, move or stirr any person or persons cominge to the mar- 
kett as aforesaydj shall be deemed and adjudged a forestaller. And 
if any person or persons shall offend in the thinges before recited 
and being thereof duly convicted or attaynted shall for his or theire 
first offence suffer imprisonment by the space of two monthes with- 
out baile or maineprize, and shall also loose and forfeite the value 
of the goods so by him or them bought or had as aforesayed; and 
for the second offence * * * shall suffer imprisonment by the 
space of one halfe yeare * * * shall loose the double value of 
all goods * * * soe bought * * * and for the third 
offence * * * sliall be set on the pilorie * * * and 
loose and forfeit all the goods and chattels that he or they then have 
to their owne use^ and also be committed to prison^ there to remayne 
duringe the Governors pleasure." 

This act was very drastic but not too severe. It was directed, 
against monsters concealed in human forms, vampires who dared to 
call themselves men. but who did not scruple to sacrifice the comfort 
and life of men, women, and children to gratify their greed of gold. 
The greatest present menace to the life and happiness of the 
American people comes from "forestallers" — speculators and extor- 
tioners — who infest our land, and who are plying their wretched 
trade, despite any feeble endeavor made by the Federal and State 
governments to fasten punishment upon them. It would be well for 
the suffering public if the Old Virginia House of Burgesses could 
return to exercise its legislative functions and supply the Congress 
of the United States with quaint but effective laws to suppress the 
worst of criminals. 



T.H.-9 



130 History of Tazewell County 

CHAPTER IV. 

FROM DEATH OF JAMES I TO 1676. 

On the 27th of March^ 1625^ King James I. died, after an 
unpopular reign of twenty-two years. He was succeeded by his 
son, Cliarles I., who had no more regard for the political rights and 
privileges of the Virginia colonists than he showed for his subjects 
in England. But the General Assembly, when informed of the death 
of King James, sent Sir George Yeardley, then a member of the 
council, as an envoy to England to present their respects to King 
Charles ; and to give him assurance that the Virginians were satis- 
fied with the government his father had given them. The request 
was presented that no change be made in their very liberal form of 
government; and in 1626 Sir George Yeardley was appointed gov- 
ernor of Virginia, which satisfied the colonists that their request 
had been favorably received by their sovereign. All through his 
reign of twenty-five years, Charles M^as involved in such bitter strife 
with Parliament and his Scotch and English subjects that he could 
give but little attention to the Virginia colony. 

Within a period of twenty years the colony had three forms of 
government. When the settlement was first made at Jamestown 
its nature was that of a Proprietary Government, and it so remained 
until the second charter was obtained in 1609 by the London Com- 
pany. It then became a Corporation, and continued as such under 
tlie third charter until the company was dissolved by a decree of 
the Court of King's Bench in 162'i, when it was made a Royal 
Province. Soon after ascending the throne, Charles I. appointed 
William Claiborne secretary of state for the colon}'-, and in Clai- 
borne's commission designated it "Our Kingdom of Virginia." It 
may be gratifying to some Virginians of tliis day, wlio are charmed 
with royalty and the degenerate European nobility, to know that 
for about a quarter of a century Virginia was recognized as a 
Kingdom by an English monarch. 

The administration of justice when the colony was first estab- 
lished was lodged with the president and council; and after a 
governor was substituted for the president all judicial authority was 
vested in the governor and his council. Tliis was a very dangerous 
power to place with a single man, who might prove himself either a 
knave or a fool and trample upon justice, ratlier than uphold and 
vindicate the rights of the people. In 1628-29, commissions were 



and Southwest Virginia 131 

issued to justices or magistrates to hold montlilj^ courts in each of 
the boroughs or hundreds. These courts were the origin of the old 
county courts that administered justice in the counties of Virginia 
until the Constitution of 1870 was put in operation. 

From "Acts made by the Grand Assemblie Holden at James 
City the 21st. August, 1633," we find that the colony had then so 
extended its limits and had become so permanently planted as to 
require the establishment of a county or shire system of government. 
Consequently an Act was passed by the "Grand Assemblie", creat- 
ing eight shires and they were given the following names : James 
City;, Henrico, Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, War- 
rosquyoak, Charles River, Accawmack. These shires were to be 
organized and governed in the same manner as the shires in Eng- 
land; and they were subsequently designated and conducted as coun- 
ties. Their original boundaries cannot be ascertained, despite the 
most diligent researches of archivists and historians. But their 
location is known from the counties that now bear the same name, 
to-wit: James City, Henrico, Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick, 
York (Charles River) arid Accomac. At a Grand Assemblie, Holden 
at James City, the 2nd daj' of March 1642-3, the following act was 
passed: "Be it further enacted and confirmed that the plantation 
and county knowne now by the name of Acomack shall be knowne 
and called by the county of Northampton. It is likewise enacted 
and confirmed that Charles River County shall be distinguished by 
this name (County of York). And that Warwick River shall be 
called the County of Warwick." From that time all counties in 
Virginia were created by special acts of the General Assembly^ 

Early in 1642 Sir William Berkeley was appointed governor of 
Virginia by Charles I. About the same time the London Company 
sought to regain control of the colony by a petition directed to 
Parliament. The General Assembly met and made a strong protest 
against the restoration of the company, avowing that control by 
the corporation would be very detrimental to the welfare of the 
colony. Speaking of the written protest sent by the assembly to 
the king, Howe, in his History of Virginia, says: "This paper is 
drawn with great ability, and sets forth the objections to the peti- 
tion in very strong and striking terms. They enlarge especially 
upon the wish and the power of the company to monopolize their 
trade ; the advantage and happiness secured to them by their present 
form of government, with its annual assemblies and trial by jury; 
the fact, that a restitution of the power of the company would be an 
admission of the illegality of the king's authority, and a consequent 



132 



History of Tazewell ( 'ount v 



nullification of the grants and commissions; and the impossibility 
of men, however wise, at such a distance, and unacquainted with 
the climate or condition of the country, to govern the colony as well 
as it could be governed by their own Grand Assembly." The king 
was so favorably impressed with the spirit and force of the i^rotest 
that he refnsed to consent to any change in the form of government 
that had brought so much happiness to the colonists. 




The above shows all that remains of the city of Jamestown — the mined 
tower of the brick church built in 1639. 

In Hit! the colony suffered from another massacre by the 
Indians. Tlic natives had been driven away from their homes on 
tlie borders of the rivers in the tidewater section, where the lands 
were fertile and easily tilled, and were forced to struggle for a 
precarious existence in the highlands, where the soil was thin. They 
had been greatly reduced in numbers by the policy of extermination 
which the House of Burgesses had inaugurated shortly after the 
dreadful massacre of 1622. Those who had fled to the interior for 
safety had become more skilled in warfare, and were made desperate 
bv the continued encroachments of the settlers, who were forcing 



and Southwest Virginia 133 

them still further away from the homes they and their fathers had 
occupied so happily for many years. Opechancanough^ Powhatan's 
brother and successor, had grown so old that he had to be carried 
about on a litter, and he was so weak tliat he could not raise liis 
eyelids without assistance; but his mental faculties were so well 
preserved that he was able to gather all the tribes of the confederacy 
together, without being discovered, and make a concerted attack on 
the colonists. On the 18th of April, IGl^, the day appointed for 
the massacre, the Indians made their attack on the frontier settle- 
ments and killed three hundred persons. Owing to their greatly 
reduced number of warriors and the increased number of the 
colonists, the strength of the hostile Indians was soon broken. 
Recalling the terrible reprisals tlie whites had made upon them fol- 
lowing the massacre of 1622, the natives fled in dismay to the rernote 
thick forests. Opechancanough was made a captive by Sir William 
Berkeley, who had run the Indians down with a squadron of cavalry. 
The old chief was imprisoned at Jamestown, where he was brutally 
murdered by a cowardly soldier who was guarding him. Soon 
after this deplorable incident Governor Berkeley sailed for England, 
where he remained for a year, and upon his return to Jamestown he 
negotiated a treaty in 1646 with Necotowance, who had succeeded 
Opechancanough as chief of the remnant of the Powhatan Confed- 
eracy. The Indians made a complete submission to the whites and 
ceded such lands as were demanded. From that time, being at 
peace with the natives, with an abundance of fertile lands, and free 
markets for their tobacco, the colony was very prosperous and grew 
rapidly. Their ports were visited by the ships of tlie leading com- 
mercial nations, and historians say that, "At Christmas 1648, there 
were trading in Virginia ten ships from London, two from Bristol, 
twelve Hollanders and seven from New England." 

The number of the colonists had grown to twenty thousand, but 
they were so much occupied with their own affairs that they could 
give but little attention to the bitter and bloody struggles that were 
taking place in England between the royalists and the Parliament. 
But when Charles I. was beheaded, in 1649, the Virginia Govern- 
ment recognized his son Charles II. as their sovereign; and "Vir- 
ginia was whole for monarchy, and the last country belonging to 
England that submitted to obedience to the commonwealth." Being 
struck with horror at the monstrous crime of the Parliament that 
had beheaded tlieir king, numbers of the nobility, gentry, and clergy 
fled from England and found generous welcome and safe asylum 



134 History of Tazewell County 

in Vix-ginia, "Tlie mansion and the purse of Berkeley were open to 
all, and at the hosj)itable dwellings that were scattered along the 
rivers and among the wilds of Virginia, the Cavaliers, exiles like 
their monarch, met in frequent groups to recount their toils, to 
sigh over defeats, and to nourish loyalty and hope." Thus were 
tlie English Cavaliers introduced into Tidewater Virginia in such 
numbers as to win for the State in coming years the name of Land 
of the Cavaliers. 

Sir William Berkeley, in recognition of his loyalty, was recom- 
missioned governor b)^ Charles II. The fidelity of the Virginians 
to the royal cause was resented by Parliament; and the Council of 
State, of which Oliver Cromwell was the leading spirit, was ordered 
to take steps for bringing the rebellious colonies into obedience to 
the authority of the new republican English Government. Parlia- 
ment passed a law to j^revent foreign ships entering and trading 
at any of the ports "in Barbadoes, Antigua, Bermudas and Vir- 
ginia." This law would have practically destroyed the foreign 
trade of the colony ; but it M'as found so damaging to commerce 
that it was repealed before the authority of the Parliament was 
acknowledged in Virginia. The Virginians were so confident of 
their ability to defy the authority of Parliament that Governor 
Berkeley, speaking for the colonists, wrote to Charles II., then in 
exile at Breda, inviting him to come to Virginia and establish his 
Kingdom in America. 

Parliament determined to bring into subjection the colonies that 
were adhering to the royalists. A large fleet and a considerable 
number of soldiers were sent out to make the rebellious colonists 
acknowledge allegiance to the Commonwealth. The fleet sailed 
fii'st to Barbadoes and Antigua, and after bringing those two 
colonies into submission, unannounced, arrived at and anchored 
before Jamestown. Anticipating such a movement, Governor Berke- 
ley and the colonists had made preparations to resist the Common- 
wealth's military and naval expedition; but the commissioners sent 
by Parliament along with the fleet offered such fair and liberal terms 
that the Virginians accepted the proposed articles of surrender. 
So far as self-government was concerned the colony was placed in 
a better situation than it had ever occupied under the royal govern- 
ments. 

Sir William Berkeley, who remained a royalist in heart, declined 
to hold the governorship under the Parliament, and Richard Bennett, 
a Roundhead, and who was one of tiie Virginia Council, was elected 



and Southwest Virginia 135 

governor. A council was also elected by the assembly^ with powers 
to conform to any instructions they might receive from the Parlia- 
ment. Bennett's conduct of the government was so honest and 
liberal that it was approved by both the colonists and the Parlia- 
ment; and when he retired from office in 1655, Edward Diggs was 
elected his successor. It is a notable fact that Cromwell never 
made any ajDpointments of officers for Virginia during his protec- 
torate; but encouraged the colony to become as nearly self-govern- 
ing as possible. 

On the 20th of April, 1653, Oliver Cromwell dissolved, or 
rather dispersed with his soldiers, the notorious Rump Parliament, 
and thence forward he became supreme ruler of England until his 
death in 1658. He grasped power and ignored the exasperating- 
assumptions of Parliaments, only because he sought to promote in 
the speediest and surest way the prosperity, happiness and glory 
of his country. Under his administration as Lord Protector, he 
proved himself England's greatest ruler. His home policies were 
liberal and just, ever looking to the elevation of the masses, while 
his foreign policies were of such a nature as to secure for England 
a more commanding position among other nations than she had ever 
occupied. Virginia, and all the English colonies in America, made 
wonderful progress under Cromwell's liberal and able rule. He 
died on September the 3rd, 1658, and was succeeded as Lord 
Protector by his son, Richard. The General Assembly of Virginia, 
after maturely considering the matter, recognized Richard Cromwell 
as their ruler. He was a man of mediocre intellect, idolent by 
nature, and entirely unqualified to occupy the position his father 
had filled with such distinction. During his feeble administration, 
which was for a little more than seven months, Virginia was left 
free to conduct her own affairs. The General Assembly had 
elected Samuel Matthews governor in 1658, and he died shortly 
after Richard Cromwell was removed as Lord Protector. 

Sir William Berkeley was re-elected governor in 1660, and the 
General Assembly by enactment declared "that the supreme power 
of the government of this country shall be resident in the assembly ; 
and all writs shall issue in its name until there shall arrive from 
England a commission, which the assembly itself shall adjudge to 
be lawful." This action was taken to prevent the governor from 
assuming authority to control the conduct of the General Assembly 
as Governor Matthews had previously attempted. 

After the death of Cromwell the desire of the Englisli people 



136 History of Tazewdl County 

for a settled government lead to the restoration of the House of 
Stuart; and Charles II. returned to England, landing- at Dover on 
the 2(jtl) of May,. UifiO. He ascended the throne amid tlie joyful 
acclamations of the royalists, and for twenty-five years the profligate 
monarch gave his country the most disgraceful government it ever 
had to endure. Virginia promptly after the restoration announced 
allegiance to the new king; and one of his first acts in connection 
with the colony was to give recognition to Sir William Berkeley by 
re-appointing him govei-nor. Berkeley made himself as abnoxious 
to the colonists during his second term of ofiice as he had been 
popular with them when first serving as governor. It was largely 
due to his arbitrary and haughty conduct' that Bacon's Rebellion 
was brought about in 1676, which occurred just one hundred years 
before the Revolution. In fact, the more appropriate name for 
the uprising of Nathaniel Bacon and his fellow-colonists against 
the oppressions of the royal and local government is revolution. 
It was essentially a revolt against the despotic course of King 
Charles, supplemented by that of the local government. Virginia 
had reached a stage where she was content to have the protection 
but not the despotic control of England. Parliament had. by its 
commissioners, pledged a preservation of all the privileges and 
immunities the colony had acquired under the protectorates of 
Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard. There were a number of 
grievances that aroused popular discontent. One was the enactment 
of a navigation law which prohibited the colonists from trading 
with foreign countries, and requiring them to confine their trade 
exclusively to England. The object of this law was to enrich the 
English merchants and increase the revenues of the king, at the 
expense of the colony. This was an early manifestation of Eng- 
land's insatiable commercial greed; and it is as pronounced today 
as it was when Charles II. had his mean navigation act foisted upon 
the American colonies. A remonstrance against the outrageous 
measure was prepared and dispatched to King Charles. Failing 
to secure a repeal of the obnoxious measure, the colonists had the 
will and courage to trade with all foreign ships and merchants who 
were willing to take the risk of having their cargoes captured on 
the high seas by English cruisers. 

There were other grievances whic-h were even more potential 
for inciting revolt against the English and the Colonial govern- 
ments. These were burdensome and unequal taxation and arbitrary 
restrictions of the righi of siiffragr. The taxes were so le\ied as 



and Southwest Virginia 137 

to bear heavily upon the poorer members of the colony; and by an 
act of the House of Burgesses, passed in 1670, the rights of suffrage 
and of membership in the legislature were restricted to freeholders. 
Speaking of these unjust and oppressive laws, Howe, in his inter- 
esting History of Virginia, says: 

"But these evils in domestic legislation were trivial, compared 
with those produced by the criminal prodigality of Charles, who 
wantonly made exorbitant grants to his favorites of large tracts of 
lands, without a knowledge of localities, and consequently without 
regard to the claims or even the settlements of others. To cap the 
climax of royal munificence, the gay monarcli, in, perhaps, a merry 
mood, granted to Lords Culpeper and Arlington the whole colony 
of Virginia, for thirty-one years, with privileges effectually royal 
as far as the colony was concerned, only reserving some mark of 
homage to himself. This might be considered at court, perhaps, 
as a small bounty to a favorite, but was taken in a very serious 
light by the forty thousand people thus unceremoniously transferred. 
The Assembly in its extravagance, only took from them a great 
proportion of their profits; but the king was filching their capital, 
their lands, and their homes, which they had inherited from their 
fathers, or laboriously acquired by their own strenuous exertion." 



138 History of Tazewell County 

CHAPTER V. 

bacon's rebellion, and discovery of SHENANDOAH VALLEY. 

Nathaniel Bacon, then about twenty-eight years old, was living 
on his plantation on the James, near Curl's Wharf. He was an 
Englishman by birth and raising, had been educated as a lawyer, 
and had emigrated with his young wife to Virginia a few j^ears 
previous ; and had shown sueh talent that he had already been made 
a member of the Colonial Council. Bacon was a man of resolute 
purpose, fine personal appearance, and of republican convictions. 
The Susquehannock Indians, from Maryland and Delaware, who 
were of the Iroquoian stock, had been making incursions into Vir*- 
ginia and attacking exposed settlements. This had made Bacon 
very hostile to the Indians, and in a moment of anger he had 
declared: "If the redskins meddle with me, damn my blood but I'll 
•harry them, commission or no commission." Governor Berkeley' 
on the other hand was anxious to stay at peace with the Indians, 
and had announced that he would not give a commission to any one 
to march with an armed force against the savages. In May, 1676, 
tlie Indians made an attack upon Bacon's upper plantation, where 
Richmond is now located, and killed his overseer and one of his 
servants. When it became known at Curl's Wharf, the planters in 
the vicinity armed themselves and offered to accompany Bacon on 
an expedition against the Indians. He dispatched a messenger to 
Berkeley and requested a commission to lead the expeditionary 
force, and received from the governor an evasive answer. Bacon 
sent him a courteous note, thanking him for the commission, and 
without delay started with a mounted force of the planters to make 
war on the redskins. They had marched but a few miles when 
they were overtaken by a messenger with a proclamation from 
Governor Berkeley, commanding the party to disperse. A few of 
the men obeyed, but Bacon and the others continued tlieir march, 
came upon the Indians, and gave them a severe defeat. In tlie 
meantime Berkeley had started with a troop of cavalry in jDursuit 
of tlie Bacon party, but the governor was recalled to Jamestown 
by intelligence that the planters of the York peninsula were in 
revolt. Upon liis return to Jamestown, the governor dissolved the 
House of Burgesses, then in session, and issued writs for the 
election of a new assembly. Bacon became a candidate to rejircscnt 



and Southwest Virginia 139 

Henrico County^ and he was elected by a heavy majority^ the 
people being in sympathy with his views on the several vital ques- 
tions then engaging the attention of the colony. When the time 
came for the assembling of the House of BurgesseS;, Bacon, with 
thirty followers, journeyed to Jamestown; and upon his arrival he 
was arrested by orders of the governor and taken before that digni- 
tary, who rebuked and then pardoned the yovmg rebel. In a spirit 
of compromise, Bacon was reluctantly induced to admit at the bar 
of the assembly that he had acted illegally in marching against the 
Indians without a commission from the governor ; wliei-eupon, Berke- 
ley extended his forgiveness to Bacon and all the men who had 
accompanied him on his expedition against the Indians. 

The General Assembly had not been long in session until a 
struggle began between that bod}^ and the governor, the latter 
demanding that the assembly confine its legislation exclusively to 
Indian affairs. But the assembly, defiantly and resolutely, went 
to work to relieve the people from the evils that had been oppressing 
them. They restored universal suffrage; repealed an odious law 
which exempted councillors and their families and the families of 
clergymen fi'om taxation; abolished trade monopolies; made pro- 
vision for a general insj)ection of jjublic expenses and the careful 
auditing of public accounts, and enacted a number of other reform 
measures. 

Nathaniel Bacon had been an active worker for reform legisla- 
tion, and had also made insistent application for a commission to 
resume hostilities against the unfriendly Indians, who continued to 
make depredations upon the outlying settlements. Tliese acts of 
the young patriot so angered Governor Berkeley that he not only 
refused to give Bacon a commission but made secret plans for his 
arrest and trial upon a charge of treason. Friends warned Bacon 
that his life would be endangered if he remained longer at James- 
town, and he secretly left that place in the night time. He repaired 
to his plantation at Curl's Wharf and organized a force of six 
hundred men. With this small but resolute band of followers he 
marched upon Jamestown; and on the afternoon of a sultry day in 
June halted his men on the green in front of the State House. 
With a small detail of soldiers he advanced to the door of the 
building in which the governor and council and the burgesses were 
then sitting. The governor, in a towering rage, presented himself 
at the door, and pulling open his lace shirt front to bare his bosom, 
cried out to Bacon: "Here I am! Shoot me! 'Fore God. a fair 



140 History of Tazewell Count}' 

mark, a fair mark — shoot!" Bacon stood calm, and politely replied: 
"No, may it please your honor, we have not come to hurt a hair on 
j'our head or of any man's. We are come for a commission to save 
our lives from the Indians, which you have so often promised, and 
now we will have it before we go." It seems that Bacon's calmness 
was self-enforced, for as soon as Berkelej' retired with his council 
for a conference, the angry young rebel declared he would kill them 
all if the commission demanded was not forthcoming. His squad 
of ^s()]dicrs pointed their guns at the windows and shouted: "We 
will have it! We will have it!" In response to the cry of the 
soldiers, one of the members of the assembly waved from a window 
"a pacific handkercher" and called out, "You shall have it." The 
General Assembly prepared and gave Bacon a commission as general 
of an army, and also addressed a memorial to the king, setting forth 
the wrongs Bacon and his adherents were seeking to get rid of, and 
heartily commending the intrepid young patriot for the valuable 
services he had rendered the colony. On the following day the 
governor was constrained to affix his ajDproving signature to the 
commission and also to the memorial to the king. 

Governor Berkeley promptly issued a proclamation declaring 
Bacon and his associates rebels and traitors. He then went to 
Gloucester County, where he expected to find sufficient loyal senti- 
ment among the people to enable liim to cope with and suppress 
the Bacon rebellion. He found the sentiment in Gloucester as 
pronounced for the rebels as it was at Jamestown' and in other 
localities of the colony. The infuriated old man made his escape 
across Chesapeake Bay to Accomac. wliere he was protected by 
loyal supporters. 

When Bacon heard of the harsh proclamation of the governor, 
he was severely shocked by its accusations as to the purposes of 
himself and his followers. "It vexed him to the heart to think that 
while he was hunting Indian wolves, tigers and foxes, which daily 
destroyed our harmless sheep and lambs that he and those with him 
should be pursued with a full cry, as a more savage or a no less 
ravenous beast." He quit his hunt for the "Indian wolves" and 
hastily marched his men to Middle Plantation, the point where the 
historic city of Williamsburg was afterward located. One of his 
first acts was the issuance of a manifesto in reply to Berkeley's 
proclamation. Though written in the peculiarly stilted and obscure 
style then used by even the most highly educated men, it is an 
eloquent and fervid defence of the young leader and his com- 



and Southwest Virginia 141 

panions against tlie acrimonious attacks of Governor Berkley. 
P'rom the original manuscript, which is still preserved in the 
British State Paper office, the following is quoted: 

"If virtue be a sin, if piety be guilt, all the principles of 
morality, goodness and justice be perverted, we must confess that 
those who are now Rebels may be in danger of those high imputa- 
tions. Those loud and several bulls would affright innocents, and 
render the defence of our brethren and the inquiry into our sad and 
heavy oppressions Treason. But if there be (as sure there is) a 
just God to appeal to, if religion and justice be a sanctuary here, 
if to plead the cause of the oppressed, if sincerely to aim at his 
Majesty's honour and the public good without any reservation or 
by-interest, if to stand in the gap after so much blood of our dear 
brethren bought and sold, if after the loss of a great part of his 
Majesty's colony deserted and dispeopled freely with our lives and 
estates to endeavour to save the remainders, be treason — God 
Almighty judge and let guilty die. But since we cannot in our 
hearts find one single spot of rebellion or treason, or that we have 
in any manner aimed at subverting the settled government or 
attempting of the person of any. either magistrate or private man. 
notwithstanding the several reproaches and threats of some who 
for sinister ends were disaffected to us and censured our innocent 
and honest designs, and since all people in all places where we 
have yet been can attest our civil, quiet, peaceable behaviour, far 
different from that of rebellious and tumultuous persons, let Truth 
be bold and all the world know the real foundations of pretended 
quiet. We appeal to the country itself, what and of what nature 
their oppressions have been, or by what cabal and mystery the 
designs of many of those whom we call great men have transacted 
and carried on. But let us trace these men in authority and favour 
to whose hands the dispensation of the country's wealth has been 
committed." 

This splendid protest of Nathaniel Bacon against the assump- 
tions and oppressions of a profligate king remained a glowing spark 
on the plains of Williamsburg for one hundred years ; and then 
burst forth into a consuming flame when George Mason presented 
to the Virginia fathers the greatest charter of human liberty ever 
penned by man, the Virginia Bill of Rights. Bacon sounded the 
first aeolian notes for American freedom ; and Mason and Jefferson 
caught up the strain, and in glorious, swelling, undying tones 
chanted it to an enslaved world. 



142 History of Tazewell County 

The manifesto of Bacon was a protest against the oppressive 
and corrupt acts of the men in authority whom lie designated as 
"juggling parisites whose tottering fortunes liave been repaired at 
the public cliarge." Grave accusations were made against the 
official and personal conduct of Sir William Berkeley. He was 
charged with levying unjust taxes upon the common people for 
the benefit of his private favorites and for other sinister ends ; with 
failure to protect the colony by fortifications, and neglecting to 
advance its commercial interests. And he was also accused of 
bringing "the majesty of justice" into contempt by placing in 
judicial positions men who were "scandalous and ignorant fav- 
ourites." Another serious accusation was. that the governor had 
monopolized the beaver trade, and for the purpose of "that unjust 
gain," had "bartered and sold his Majesty's country and the lives 
of his loyal subjects to the barbarous heathen." The manifesto 
named nineteen of the most ])rominent men of the colony as Berke- 
ley's "wicked and pernicious councellors, aiders and assisters against 
the commonality in these our cruel commotions." Some of the 
names mentioned were those of Sir Henry Chicheley, Richard Lee, 
Robert Beverly and Nicholas Spencer. The paper closed with a 
demand that all the persons mentioned be arrested and placed in 
confinement at the Middle Plantation until further orders. On 
accoimt of their ajiparent truth, these charges were very galling 
to Berkeley, and sharpened his appetite for revenge upon his 
accusers. 

After he had promulgated his manifesto. Bacon called a con- 
vention of the most notable men identified with the rebellion to 
formulate plans for making it efTf'ective. The meeting was held at 
the Middle Plantation on the 3rd of August. 1676, and the con- 
vention declared the governorship was vacant because of the abdica- 
tion of Sir William Berkeley, and that the council should fill the 
vacancy until action could be taken by the king. Five members of 
the council also issued writs for the election of a new House of 
Burgesses. An agreement was drawn up which pledged the signers 
thereof to stand by and with Bacon until all the matters in dispute 
between Berkeley and the colonists could be pi'esented to and 
passed upon by King Charles. For a time some of the leaders 
refused to sign the paper, because they thought Bacon was going 
too far in his resistance to the authority of the king, though pro- 
fessions of loyalty to Chai'les II. were prominently set forth in the 
document. News was then received of renewed hostile attacks by 



and Southwest Virginia 143 

the Indians; and this information removed the reluctance of those 
who had hesitated in signing the agreement. Bacon took his army 
across James River and marched to the town of the Appomattox 
tribe^ then located where Petersburg now stands^ and gave the 
Indians a crushing defeat. For several weeks the Indians were 
pursued in different localities^ the white men killings capturing and 
dispersing them. Bacon then sent an expedition of four armed 
vessels^ under command of Giles Bland^ to the Eastern Shore to 
arrest Governor Berkeley; but Bland and his entire party wex-e 
made captive by Berkeley through the treachery of the captain of 
one of the vessels. Bland was put in irons and one of the captains 
hanged, as a warning of Berkeley's intentions to the other leaders 
of the revolt. Berkeley then gathered an army of one thousand 
men, composed largely of the indentured servants of the planters 
who were with Bacon, promising these servants the estates of their 
masters if he succeeded in repressing the rebellion. With this 
motley force he sailed up the river and again took possession of 
Jamestown. At that time Bacon was at West Point with his armj^, 
and he immediately marched to Jamestown, and after a few days 
of desultory fighting forced the governor to flee again to Accomac. 
The town was then burned, Bacon declaring that it should no longer 
"Harbour the rouges," It was but a brief while thereafter when the 
rebellion was terminated by the death of Bacon. He had con- 
tracted the fever while besieging Jamestown, and died at the liome 
of a friend in Gloucester County. His remains were secretly buried, 
liis friends fearing that if Berkeley regained power he would take 
the body from the grave and hang it on a gibbet as Charles II., 
after his restoration, had treated the remains of Oliver Cromwell. 
A number of Bacon's followers surrendered, jDlacing themselves at 
the mercy of Berkeley ; and he lost no time in hunting down those 
who tried to conceal themselves. Colonel Thomas Hansford was 
captured by Robert Beverley. Hansford requested that he sliould 
be "shot like a soldier and not lianged like a dog", but Berkeley 
was thirsting for vengeance and Hansford was hanged, being made 
"the first martyr to American liberty." Berkeley then made pro- 
clamation of a general amnesty to all his enemies who would sur- 
render tlieir arms and restore the property they had taken from liis 
partisan supporters. Many of the revolutionists availed them- 
selves of these terms, only to find that the perfidious governor had 
taken this course to entrap them. Persecutions and jiroseciitions 
were begun against the most prominent men of the rebellion. Heavy 



144 History of Tazewell County 

fines were imposed and large estates were confiscated for the pri- 
vate benefit of the governor and his minions. Twenty-three of the 
leaders were hanged without jury trials, a military coui't, acting 
under martial law, imposing the death penalty upon the victims at 
the dictation of Berkeley. Fortunately, commissioners had been 
sent from England to investigate the rebellion; and through their 
effort and at the protest of the General Assembly, Berkeley was 
prevailed upon to desist from liis prosecution of the offending 
colonists. The commissioners in their report of the trials that took 
place after their arrival gave severe condemnation to the governor 
and his subservient military court. They said: "We also observed 
some of the royal party, that sat on the bench with us at the trial 
to be so forward in impeaching, accusing, reviling, the prisoners at 
the bar, with that inveteracy, as if they had been the worst of 
witnesses, rather than justices of the commission, both accusing 
and condemning at the same time. This severe way of proceeding 
represented to the assembly, they voted an address to the governor, 
that he would desist from any further sanguinarj'^ punishments, 
for none could tell when or where it would terminate." 

Strange to tell, the two great-grandfathers of George Wash- 
ington were partisans of Governor Berkeley in his vindictive perse*- 
cutions of the patriots. They were John Washington and Colonel 
Augustine Warren. One hundred years thereafter George Wash- 
ington, their great-grandson, became the patriot military leader of 
the Virginians when they revolted against Governor Dunmore's 
attempted enforcement of the oppressive and unjust tax laws of 
George III. The despicable Berkeley was forced to return to 
England with the commissioners, where he found himself so scorned 
by his fellow-countrymen that he soon died from humiliation and 
shame. 

Some historians have been disposed to condemn Bacon and his 
associates for making their determined struggle for popular govern- 
ment, upon the theory that a majority of the wealthiest and most 
aristocratic citizens of the colony were opposed to the revolutionary 
movement. These aristocrats were averse to democratic ideas and 
popular government ; and were worshipers of monarchy and nobility, 
even when represented by such debased creatures as Charles II. 
and Sir William Bei-keley. This Cavalier element adhered to the 
doctrine that "society is most prosperous when a select portion of 
the community governs the whole." It is the same fatuous doctrine 
that in these days exudes from the narrow minds of certain political 



and Southwest Virginia 145 

leaders who contend that those whom they call "the best people" 
shall rule; and that an oligareiiy is preferable to the form of 
popular government which Thomas Jefit'erson and Abraham Lincoln 
gave to their country. 

Made desperate by the oppressions of his people^ heaped upon 
them by a venal governor^ the young leader may on some occasions 
liave been too extreme in expression and in action, but his revolt 
was the first tragic manifestation of a yearning for personal and 
political freedom in Colonial America. 

The Bacon rebellion was of brief duration and was confined to 
a small territory, but its influence was far-reaching in connection 
with other English colonies in America. A number of persons who 
were connected with the Virginia rebellion fled to North Carolina 
to escape the persecutions of Governor Berkeley. They found the 
condition of affairs in that province very much like they had been 
in Vii'ginia. An obnoxious navigation act, coupled with excessive 
taxation, and "denial of a free election of an assembly" brought 
about an insurrection. It Avas led by John Culpeper, a prominent 
member of the colony, and he was valuably assisted by the refugees 
from Virginia. The royalists were as bitterly opposed to popular 
government in North Carolina as they had been in Virginia. The 
advocates of self-government were denounced by the royalists as 
meriting "hanging for endeavoring to set the poor people to plunder 
the rich." The government was then being conducted by Thomas 
Miller as president and secretary, and with the added authority of 
collecting the revenues ; and he had a council, as did the governor of 
Virginia. One of the counsellors joined in the rebellion, but the 
others, with Miller, were arrested and imprisoned. Culpeper and 
his associates refused to submit to the odious acts of Parliament, 
organized a representative popular government, and established 
courts of justice. The insurrectionists sent Culpejier and another 
planter to England to effect a compromise with the projDrietaries of 
the colony. After fulfilling his mission, Culpeper started to leave 
England, but was arrested at the instance of Miller. He was 
acquitted by an English jury for participating in the insurrection; 
and from that time the North Carolina colonists were left free to 
conduct their local affairs. 

The sixty-nine years that intervened between the landing of the 

colony at Jamestown and the insurrection lead by Nathaniel Bacon 

were pregnant with incidents that were tinged with romance, pathos, 

and tragedy. They were an appropriate sequel to the sad story of 
T.H. — 10 



146 History of Tazewell County 

the lost Roanoke colony and little Virginia Dare. The small com- 
munitj' that had been planted on the Jamestown peninsula in 1607 
had expanded until it occupied nearly the entire Tidewater Virginia. 
Beautiful estates^ many of them now historic^ were located along 
the borders of the James, the York and other rivers, and of the 
numerous inlets that dotted the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Tlie 
population had grown to forty thousand souls, and enterprise and 
abundance had supplanted the slothfulness and destitution which 
had threatened to destroy the colony during the first years of its 
existence. The neighboring colonies, Carolina, Maryland, and Penn- 
sylvania, as well as those more remote. New York, and Massachu- 
setts, were also prospering and growing to such form as to fore- 
cast the need of a continental government for all of the colonies. 
From this time onward, until 1776, the trend of the American com- 
munities was in the direction of independent republican government. 
The thirty years following the Bacon rebellion were stamped 
with full assurance that the Virginia colony had reached a stage 
of permanency and stability. Many incidents occurred which 
showed that all the colonies were entering ujDon a period of revolu 
tion that was to culminate in the formation of a federal government. 



The year 1710 was an eventful one in the history of Virginia. 
In the month of June of that year Alexander Spottswood arrived 
from England to assume charge of the colon}^ as its governor. All 
historians affirm that he was the best and ablest of the colonial 
governors. He was descended from an old and distinguished 
Scottish family, and from his early boyhood had been a soldier 
in the English army. His valor and ability won for him the rank of 
colonel at the early age of twenty-eight; and he came to Virginia six 
years later with a reputation so exalted as to make his reception at 
Williamsburg, tJien the seat of government, most cordial by the 
leading citizens of the colony. He brought with him from P^ngland 
authority from the Parliament to extend to Virginians the privilege 
or right of habeas corpus, which had previously been denied them, 
though other Englishmen had enjoyed the sacred right for many 
yeax's. This one thing made Spottswood very popular with the 
people. 

In a short time after his arrival the new governor became 
involved in quarrels with the burgesses, occasioned by what he 
believed to be a lack of public spirit on their part and reluctance 



and Southwest Virginia 147 

to provide revenue for the essential needs of the government. They 
refused to appropriate money to send armed assistance to the 
Carolina colonists who were hard pressed by the Indians and were 
appealing for help ; and plead the poverty of the colony as an 
excuse for their reprehensible conduct. Spottswood was so pro- 
voked that he sharply called the attention of the burgesses to the 
fact that they were greedily taking their pay as members of the 
assembly without enacting any laws that would be helpful to the 
colon}\ And in an address to the assembly he said: "To be plain 
with you, the true interest of your country is not what you have 
troubled your heads about. All your proceedings have been cal- 
culated to answer the notions of the ignorant populace; and if you 
can excuse yourselves to them, j^ou matter not how you stand 
before God, or any others to whom you think you owe not your 
elections. In fine, I cannot but attribute these miscarriages to the 
people's mistaken choice of a set of representatives whom Heaven 
has not * * * endowed with the ordinary qualifications 
requisite to legislators; and therefore I dissolve you." Commenting 
on the manner in which Governor Spottswood rebuked the dema- 
gogues and time-serving politicians of the assembly, the historian 
Fiske thus writes of the gallant and honorable gentleman: 

"In spite of this stinging tongue Spottswood was greatly liked 
and respected for his ability and honesty and his thoroughly good 
heart. He was a man sound in every fibre, clear-sighted, shrewd, 
immensely vigorous, and full of public spirit. One day we find 
him establishing Indian missions, the next he is undertaking to 
smelt iron and grow native wines ; the next he is sending out ships 
to exterminate the pirates. For his energy in establishing smelting 
furnaces he was nicknamed 'The Tubal Cain of Virginia'. For the 
making of native wines he brougjit over a colony of Germans from 
the Rhine, and settled them in the new county named for him 
Spottsylvania, hard by the Rapidan River, where Germanna Ford 
still preserves a reminiscence of their coming." 

Spottswood was governor from 1710 to 1723, and his adminis- 
tration was clean, able, and progressive. He introduced the English 
postal system into the colony, but for a time was antagonized in 
this movement by the burgesses. Tliey contended that the postal 
charges were a tax, and that Parliament had no right to lay such 
a tax upon the people without their consent, given through their 
representatives. 



148 History of Tazewdl County 

More than a liundred years had passed since Captain Newport 
landed the first settlers at Jamestown ; and no concerted effort had 
been made by individuals or the government to explore and occupy 
that extensive region belonging to Virginia, lying beyond the Blue 
Ridge Mountains. The belief was still almost universal in the 
colony that the coast land from Virginia to Labrador was a narrow 
strip, like Central America, separating the Atlantic Ocean and the 
one that was known to wash the western shores of the continent. 
in the fall of 1(508, at the command of the London Company. Cap- 
tain Newport made an inefK'ectual effort to reach and pass over the 
mountains, with the confident hope of finding a "salt sea" not far 
beyond the Blue Ridge. From that time to the coming of Spotts- 
wood the settlers were content to confine themselves to the tidewater 
section, where there was an abundance of everything necessary for 
their comfort, and where their tobacco crops could be used as money 
in all commercial transactions. The settlements had been extended 
far enough to bring the mountains in view, but a strip of forest 
fifty miles wide still intervened between the frontier and the Blue 
Ridge. 

In 171b" the stalwart and energetic Spottswood determined to 
explore the region west of the mountains; and for that purpose 
organized an expedition composed of a number of gcjitlemen who 
were eager to accompany the governor. They took along a number 
of negro servants and some Indian guides, and a train of pack- 
horses laden with supplies, including an abundance of native and 
imported wines and liquors. The gay Cavaliers assembled at 
Germanna, and traveled thence up the Rapi)ahannock River and its 
tributaries until the mountains wei*e reached. They crossed the 
Blue Ridge at Swift Run Gap, and entered the great Shenandoah 
Valley a short distance north of Port Republic, a locality that was 
afterwards to be made famous by Stonewall Jackson, the greatest 
military leader America has ever produced, in his brilliant cam- 
paigns against the Federal armies. Spottswood and his company 
discovered a beautiful stream flowing down the valley and he named 
it the Euphrates, wliich was soon changed to the more appi'opriate 
name of Shenandoah. The party crossed the river at a very deep 
ford, on the ()tli of September, and, on the western bank of the 
stream, Governor Spottswood formally took jwssession of the country 
for George I., King of England. After remaining a few days in 
the splendid country, which no white man had ever visited before, 
the governor started back to Williamsburg and arrived there after 
an absence of eight weeks. 



and Southwest Virginia 149 

John Fontaine, who was a member of the party, kept a diary 
from which there has been preserved a jjartial account of the 
expedition. He said that the governor had no graving irons and 
could not grave anytliing on stone, but Mr. Fontaine said: "I 
graved my name on a tree by the riverside, and the Governor buried 
a bottle with a paper enclosed, on wliich lie writ that lie took pos- 
session of this place in the name of the King George P'irst of Kng- 
land. * * * We had a good dinner (on the Gth) and after it 
we got the men together and loaded all their arms, and we drank 
the King's health in champagne and fired a volley, the Princesse's 
health in Burgundy and fired a volley, and all the rest of the royal 
family in claret and fired a volley. We drank the Governor's health 
and fired another volley. We had several sorts of liquors, viz: 
Virginia red wine and white wine, Irish usquebaugh, brandy, shrub, 
two sorts of rum, champagne, canary, cherry punch, cider &c." The 
diarist also relates that bears, deer, and turkeys were abundant, and 
in the Valley the foot-prints of elk and buffalo were seen in many 
places. 

Governor Spottswood was so delighted with the outcome of his 
exploring expedition that, upon his return to Williamsburg, he 
established an Order which he named "Knights of the Golden Horse- 
shoe." From a letter written by Rev. Hugh Jones, who was then 
rector of Bmton Church, we learn the reason for the name given 
the Order. Rev. Jones says: "For this expedition they were 
obliged to provide a great quantity of horse shoes, things seldom 
used in the lower parts of the country, where there are few stones, 
upon which account the governor upon their return presented each 
of his companions with a golden horse shoe, some of whicli I have 
seen, studded with valuable stones, resembling the heads of nails, 
with this inscription * * * Sic juvat transcendere monies. 
This he instituted to encourage gentlemen to venture backwards 
and make discovei-ies and new settlements, an}' gentleman being- 
entitled to wear this golden shoe that can prove he drank his 
Majesty's health upon Moimt George." 

It seems that a party climbed the highest peak that they could 
find and that S^jottswood cut the name of George I. on the summit. 
In letters which he wrote to the Lords of Trade in London, Spotts- 
wood disclosed that the object of his expedition across the moun- 
tains was not for pleasure, nor for the discovery of new territory, 
but was for a military and commercial purpose; arid to prevent 
the French from coming down from the Lake Country and encroach- 



150 History of Tazewell County 

ing upon the dominions of Virginia as defined by the several cliar- 
ters given the London Company. After referring to the fact that 
the French had in recent years built forts in places that threatened 
the i^ossessions of England, he stated, "that the Brittish Planta- 
tions are in a manner Surrounded by their Commerce w'th the 
numerous Nations of Indians seated on both sides of tlie Lakes ; 
they may not only Engross the Whole Skin Trade, but may, when 
they please, Send out Bodys of Indians on the back of these Plan- 
tations as may greatly distress his Maj'ty's subjects here, And 
should they multiply their settlem'ts along these Lakes, so as to 
join their Dominions of Canada to their new Colony of Louisiana, 
they might even possess themselves of any of these plantations 
they pleased. Nature, 'tis true, has formed a Barrier for us by 
that long Chain of Mountains w'ch run from the back of South 
Carolina as far as New York, and w'ch are only passable in some 
few places, but even that Natural Defence may prove rather destruc- 
tive to us, if they are not possessed by us before they are known to 
them. To prevent the dangers W'ch Threaten his Maj'ty's Domin- 
ions here from the growing power of these Neighbours, nothing 
seems to me of more consequence than that now while the Nations 
are at peace, and while the Fi'cnch are yet uncapable of possessing 
all that vast Tract W'ch lies on the back of these Plantations, W^e 
should attempt to make some settlements on ye Lakes, and at the 
same time possess ourselves of those passes of the great Mountains, 
W'ch are necessary to preserve a Communication with such Settle- 
ments." I ! 

Though he made such intelligent suggestions as to how the 
French could be prevented from doing what they afterwards tried 
to do, and partially accomplished, he remained very ignorant of 
the physical structure and extent of the regions north and west of 
the Shenandoah Valley. In another letter addressed to the Lords of 
Trade, dated August 14, 1718, he said: 

"The chief aim of my expedition over the great mountains in 
1716, was to satisfye myself whether it was practicable to come at 
the lakes. Having on that occasion found an easy passage over 
tliat great ridge of mountains W'ch before were judged unpassable, 
I also discovered, by relation of Indians who frequent those parts, 
that from the pass where I was it is but three days' march to a 
great nation of Indians living on a river W'ch discharges itself in 
the Lake Erie, that from ye western side of one of the small moun- 
tains W^'ch I saw, that lake is very visible, and cannot, therefore, 



and Southwest Virginia 151 

be above five days march from the pass afore-mentioned, and that 
the way thither is also very practicable, the mountains to the west- 
ward of the great ridge being smaller than those I passed on the 
eastern side. W'ch shews how easy a matter it is to gain possession 
of those lakes." 

Spottswood became involved in a quarrel with Dr. James Blair, 
who was President of William and Mary College. Blair's influence 
was very great w ith the English Court, and he procured the removal 
of Spottswood as governor in 1722. The deposed governor had 
become so deeply attached to Virginia that he made it his future 
permanent home. He continued to act as postmaster-general for 
the American colonies, and by 1738 had a regular mail route estab- 
lished that extended from New England to Williamsburg; and 
in-eg-ular mails were sent by riders on south to the Carolinas. In 
1740 Spottswood died at his estate of "Temple Farm" at Yorktown. 
The surrender of Lord Cornwallis was negotiated in the house 
where the valiant and noble gentleman died. 



I 

i. 



Pioneer Period 



Embracing Discovery and Settlement of the Shenan- 
doah, Roanoke, New River, Holston and Chnch 
Vallevs and Kentuckv. 



PIONEER PERIOD 



CHAPTER I. 

SETTLEMKNT OF SHENANDOAH AND ROANOKE VALLEYS. 

Events that seem of little iinportanee at the time of their 
occurrence are sometimes followed by consequences of such magni- 
tude as to greatly affect the character and material welfare of a 
nation. The discovery of the Shenandoah Valley by Governor 
Spottswood was an event of this kind. His expedition across the 
Blue Ridge, so far as he was concerned, was executed for jDurely 
military and commercial purposes. It was certainly nothing moi-e 
than a pleasure-seeking excursion on the part of Robert Beverly, 
Colonel Robertson, and the other Virginia gentlemen who accom- 
jjanied the governor, judging from the account of the expedition 
related by John Fontaine in his diar)'. The handsome jewel Spotts- 
wood gave to each member of his illustrious Order of "Knights of 
the Golden Horseshoe," bore the inscription: "Sic jurat trans- 
cendere monies," which translated means: "Thus it is a pleasure 
to cross the mountains." 

When Spottswood buried a bottle on the bank of the beautiful 
Shenandoah, with a paper in the bottle declaring that the river and 
newly discovered territory were the possessions of King George I., 
neither the governor nor any one of his gallant companions took 
thought that the seed of Euroj^ean civilization was being planted in 
the strange, vast wilderness lying beyond the Blue Ridge ^fountains. 
Nor could they foresee that this seed of civilization would quickly 
germinate, and its rich harvest be scattered broadcast, northward 
to the lakes, and westward until it reached the distant shores of 
the great 'salt sea," which the London Comj^any ordered Captain 
Newport to seek and find. Spottswood's expedition was the fore- 
runner of the pioneer movement that brouglit the first settlers to the 
Clinch Valley and all parts of Southwest Virginia. Writing about 
this wonderful western movement, Fiske, the delightful historian, 
says : 

"This development occurred in a way even far-seeing men could 
not have predicted. It introduced into Virginia a new set of people, 
new forms of religion, new habits of life. It affected all the 

(155) 



15() History of Tazewell County 

colonics south of Pennsylvania most profoundly, and did more than 
anything else to determine the character of all the states afterwards 
founded west of the Alleghanies and south of the latitude of middle 
Illinois. Until recent years, little has been written about the com- 
ing of the so-called Scotch-Irish to America, and yet it is an event 
of scarcely less importance than the exodus of English Puritans to 
New England and that of English Cavaliers to Virginia. It is 
impossible to understand the drift which American history, social 
and political, has taken since the time of Andrew Jackson, without 
studying the early life of the Scotch-Irish population of the Alle- 
gliany regions, the pioneers of the American backwoods. I do not 
mean to be understood as saying that the whole of that population 
at the time of our Revolutionary War was Scotch-Irish, for there 
was a considerable German element in it, besides an infusion of 
English moving inward from the coast. But the Scotch-Irish ele- 
ment was moi'e numerous and far more important than all the 
others." 

A very large portion of the pioneer settlers in Tazewell wei-e 
of the Scotch-Irish blood, therefore it is proper to inquire at this 
stage of my work: Who were these peculiar people, with a com- 
pound name, and from whence did they come.^' Fiske very con- 
cisely and splendidly gives the desired information by saying: 

"The answer carries us back to the year 1611, when James I. 
began peopling Ulster with colonists from Scotland and the north 
of England. The plan was to put into Ireland a Protestant 
population that might ultimately outnumber the Catholics and 
become the controlling element in the country. The settlers were 
picked men and women of the most excellent sort. By the middle 
of the seventeenth century there were 300,000 of them in Ulster. 
That province had been the most neglected part of the island, a 
wilderness of bogs and fens ; they transformed it into a garden. 
They also established manufactures of woolens and linens which 
have ever since been famous throughout the world. ]?y the begin- 
ning of the eighteenth century their numbers had risen to nearly 
a million. Their social condition was not that of peasants; they 
were intelligent yeomanry and artisans. In a doiiuncnt signed 
in 1718 by a miscellaneous group of 319 men. only 13 made their 
mark, while 30(5 wrote their names in full. Nothing like that 
could lia\ (■ hapj)encd at that time in any other ))art of the British 
Empire, hardly even in New England. 



and Southwest Virginia 157 

"When these people began commg to America, those families 
that had been longest in Ireland had dwelt there but for three 
generations, and confusion of mind seems to lurk in any nomencla- 
ture which couples them with the true Irish. On the other hand, 
since love laughs at feuds and schisms, intermarriages between 
the colonists of Ulster and the native Irish were by no means 
unusual, and instances occur of Murphys and MacManuses of 
Presbyterian faith. It was common in Ulster to allude to Presby- 
terians as Scotch, to Roman Catholics as Irish, and to members 
of the English Church as Protestants, without much reference to 
pedigree. From this point of view the term 'Scotch-Irish' may- 
be defensible, provided we do not let it conceal the fact that the 
people to whom it is applied are for the most part Lowland Scotch 
Presbyterians, very slightly hibernicized in blood." 

In 1698 tlie Phiglish manufacturers became very jealous of the 
successful Scotch-Irish manufacturers in Ulster, and secured from 
Parliament legislation that inflicted such damage to the Irish linen 
and woolen industries that thev had to discharge many of their 
skilled workmen, who suiiered grievously from lack of employ- 
ment. And about the same time the English Church inaugurated 
disgraceful persecutions against all Protestants who dissented to 
the doctrines of the Established Church. Similar persecutions 
were being used in Virginia and were continued for a number of 
years. The Presbyterians were not permitted to have schools • 
their ministers were not allowed to perform the marriage cere- 
mony ; and if any persons had the courage to violate the law, the 
marriage was declared invalid. They were also denied the right to 
hold liny office higher than constable. There were other despotic 
and foolish enactments that were a disgrace to the British Govern- 
ment. Oppressions were heaped upon the Scotch-Irish in Ulster 
until they became unendurable; and they began to emigrate to 
America in large numbers about the time Spottswood made his 
famous exploration of the Shenandoah Valley. This tide of 
emigration from Ulster continued to flow to America until the 
Toleration Act for Ireland was enacted by Parliament in 1782. It 
is known that during one week in 1727 six ship-loads of emigrants 
from Ulster were landed at Philadelphia ; and that in the two 
years 1733 and 1734 as many as 30,000 came over to America, 
seeking religious and political freedom. From carefully prepared 
estimates it is also known that between the years 1730 and 1770 — a 



158 History of Tazewell County 

period of forty years — half a million of the Scotch-Irish left 
Ulster and made their future homes among the American colonies. 
Most of them located in Pennsylvania, where they were given 
grants of land in the western mountain sections for the purpose of 
thus making them a strong defence of the frontier against Indian 
invasion of the older settlements, as well as against the French. 

The "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe", after their return 
to Williamsburg from the famous exploring expedition, were loud 
in their praises of the country beyond the mountains. They spoke 
in the most glowing terms of its scenic beauty, its fertile soil, and 
the abundance of big game. Their brilliant descriptions, however, 
did not induce any of the Virginians then living east of the Blue 
Ridge to migrate to the Valley, and take the risks and endure tlie 
hardships of pioneers. They preferred to live in safety, and to 
enjoy the luxur}^ that had been built upon indentured servitude 
and slaverj'. Thus was tlie lionor of bringing this magnificent 
section of America to a high state of civilization given to a hardier 
and more intelligent class of men, who came from Ulster and 
Germanv, \ia Pennsvlvania and Maryland. 



The General Assembly of Virginia at a session "Begun and 
holden in the Capitol in the City of Williamsburg on the second 
day of November 1720" passed an act to erect a county to be 
called Spottsyh ania in honor of Governor Spottswood. The pre- 
amble of the bill stated: "That the frontiers towards the high 
mountains are exposed to danger from the Indians and the late 
settlements of the P'rench to the westward of the said mountains." 
In the enacting clause, the boundaries of the new county are thus 
given: "Spottsylvania County bounds upon Snow Creek up to a 
mill, thence by a southwest line to the river North-Anna, thence 
up said river as far as convenient, and thence by a line to be run 
over the high mountains to tlie river on the North-west side thereof, 
so as to include the northern passage thro' the said mountains, 
thence down the said river until it comes against the head of the 
Rappahannock ; thence by a line to the head of Rappahannock 
river; and down that river to the mouth of Snow Creek; wliich 
tract of land from the first of May, 1721, shall become a county 
by the name of Spottsylvania County." 

The preamble of the act discloses the primary purpose for the 
creation of the new county. It was another invitation to bold 
spirits to cross the Blue Ridge Mountains and establish homes 



and Southwest Virginia 159 

and build forts, as did the pioneer settlers of the Clinch Valley; 
and erect a strong barrier against the Indians who had previously 
been making bloody attacks upon the frontier settlements east of 
the mountains. The Virginia colonists did not respond to this 
second invitation, following Spottswood's discovery of the Vallej^; 
and no settlements were made there until more than ten years 
after Spottsylvania County was formed. It appears that the 
entire Valley between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany Moun- 
tains was uninhabited. The aborigines had, though different tribes 
asserted claim to the territory, set it apart as a hunting ground, 
just as they had done with all the territory in Virginia west of 
New River and south of the Ohio. Therefore it became a highway 
for war parties of hostile tribes as they traveled either north or 
south to make war on their enemies. The Shawnees, who had 
settled at the present site of Winchester, Virginia, after their 
expulsion from South Carolina by the Cherokees in 1690, had 
joined their kindred either in Pennsylvania or in the Ohio Valley. 
This is indicated by the fact that the first settlement made in 
Virginia west of the Blue Ridge was at or near Winchester. Hunters 
and small exploring parties had, possibly, visited the Valley but 
no settlements were made there until 1732. 

Several local historians state, as a fact, that before any settle- 
ments were made in the Shenandoah Valley, John Marlin, a 
pedlar, and John Sailing, a we ave r, started out from Winchester 
to explore the upper country. Waddell, in his Annals of Augusta 
County, fixes the date of the ISIarlin-Salling exploration at about 
the year 1726. They traveled up the valley of the Shenandoali 
to the divide which separates that valley from the James River 
Valley, and journeyed on until they reached the Roanoke River. 
There they were discovered and surprised by a hunting party of 
Cherokee Indians, possibly, about the "Great Lick," where the 
city of Roanoke is now located. Sailing was captured by the 
Indians, but JNIarlin escaped. Sailing's experience as a captive 
was about as thrilling as that of Thomas Ingles, who was captured 
by the Shawnees at Draper's Meadows in 1755, and James Moore, 
who was captured by a band of the same tribe in Abb's Valley in 
1784. Sailing was taken by the Cherokees to one of their towns 
in Tennessee. While on a hunting expedition in Kentucky with a 
party of the Cherokees lie was captured by a band of Illinois 
Indians, and was taken to Kaskaskia, where he was adopted into 
the family of an Indian squaw who had lost a son in battle. The 



160 History of Tazewell County 

Illinois Indians sold him to Spanish traders who wanted to use 
him as an interpreter. They look liim to Canada^ where he was 
purchased from the Spaniards by the French governor^ and was 
sent by him to the Dutch settlement at New York. From New 
York he made his way to Williamsburg^ and from thence to Win- 
chester, arriving there after an absence of six years. 

In 1730, John and Isaac Vanmeter, who were German Hugue- 
nots, and then located in Pennsylvania, procured from Governor 
Gooch, of Virginia, a grant for 40,000 acres of land to be located 
in the lower Valley and within the present boundaries of Frederick 
County, Virginia, and Jeft'erson Coimty, West Virginia. The Van- 
meters sold, in 1731, their warrant for the 40,000 acres to Joist 
Hite, also of Pennsylvania. He began to survey and locate valuable 
tracts of land, and offered extraordinary inducements to immigrants 
to settle upon the lands. But the strongest inducement was the 
removal of his own family from Pennsylvania to the Valley. He 
settled with his family, in 1732, a few miles south of where Win- 
chester is now located; and this is supposed to be the first per- 
manent settlement made by a white man in the splendid Valley of 
Virginia. Waddell says: 

"Population soon flowed in to take possession of the rich lands 
offered by Hite; but a controvers}' speedily arose in regard to the 
proprietor's title. Lord Fairfax claimed Hite's lands as a part 
of his grant of the 'Northern Neck.' Fairfax entered a caveat 
against Hite, in 1736, and thereupon Hite brought suit against 
Fairfax. This suit was not finally decided till 1786, long after the 
death of all the original parties, when judgment was rendered in 
favor of Hite and his vendees. The dispute between Fairfax and 
Hite retarded the settlement of that part of the Valley, and induced 
immigrants to push their way up the Shenandoah River to regions 
not implicated in sucli controversies." 



About the year 1732 Jolin I>ewis, whose descendants after- 
wards figured so conspicuously in the affairs of Virginia, settled 
in the Shenandoah Valley. Local historians designate him as the 
first Mhite settler in tliat region. He became acquainted with John 
Sailing shortly after the latter returned to Winchester from cap- 
tivity; and was so pleased witli Sailing's description of tlie Upper 
Valley that he and John Mackey made a visit to the country under 
tlie guidance of Sailing; and all three of these men determined to 



and Southwest Virginia 161 

make their homes there. There was an abundance of fertile land 
with no one claiming ownership to any portion of il^ and Lewis 
and his companions were free to choose what they wished. 

John Lew is wa s a native of the county of Donegal, Province of 
Ulster, Ireland, was of pure Scotch descent, and came to this coun- 
try from Portugal, first settling with his family in Pennsylvania. 
He had been forced to leave Ireland on account of killing an Irish 
landlord from whom he had rented land. The landlord was trying 
to evict Lewis from his holdings by force and shot into the house, 
killing a brother of Lewis and severely wounding his wife. There- 
upon Lewis rushed out of the house, killed the Irish lord, and drove 
his retainers away. His conduct was fully justified by the authori- 
ties, but he thought it best to leave the country. When he moved 
his family to the Shenandoah Valley he brought with him three 
sons, Thomas, Andrew and William ; and a fourth son, Charles, 
was born at the new home. Andrew commanded the Virginians at 
the battle of Point Pleasant, and won distinction as a general in 
the Revolutionar}' W^ar. Charles commanded a regiment at Point 
Pleasant, and was killed in the engagement. In his Annals of 
Augusta county, Waddell says: "Concurrently with the settle- 
ment of Lewis, or immediately afterward, a flood of immigrants 
poured into the country. * * * It is believed that all the 
earliest settlers came from Pennsylvania and up the Valley of the 
Shenandoah. It was several years before any settlers entered the 
Valley from the east, and through the gaps in the Blue Ridge." 
A large majority of the pioneer settlers of the Clinch Valley and 
of all Southwest Virginia were of the same stock as those who first 
came to the Shenandoah Valley. In fact, Pennsylvania and Mary- 
land furnished nearh^ all of them, but many located for a time in 
the Valley before coming here. 

These settlers were not by any means all of the Scotch-Irish 
blood. There was a strong element of Germans among them, who 
sliared equally with the men from Ulster the glory of making 
the Shenandoah Valley and Southwest Virginia two of the most 
noted and delightful sections of the United States. The Scotch 
and German pioneer settlers were, alike, men of great energy and 
dauntless courage ; and filled with such intense political and relig- 
ious convictions tliat they and their descendants have made an 
indelible impression upon the social, political and moral life of 
America. Fiske, the historian, says: "Jeflterson is often called the 
father of modern American democracy ; in a certain sense the 

T.H.— H 



162 History of Tazewell County 

Shenandoah Valley and adjacent Appalachian regions may be 
called its cradle. In that rude frontier society, life assumed many 
new aspects, old customs were forgotten, old distinctions abolished, 
social equality acquired even more importance than unchecked 
individualism. The notions, sometimes crude and noxious, some- 
times just and wholesome, which characterized Jacksonian demo- 
cracy, flourished greatly on the frontier and have thence been 
propagated eastward through the older communities, alfecting their 
legislation and tlieir politics more or less according to frequency 
of contact and intercourse." This Jeffersonian democracy of the 
pioneer settlers of the Appalachian regions, including the Clinch 
Valley, was scattered by their descendants throughout the West 
and Northwest. And in the middle of the last century it was given 
added impulse by Abraham Lincoln, who is the only peer of Jeti'er- 
son, as a leader and teacher of a pure democracy, the world has 
ever produced. 

In 1734 an event occurred which greatly accelerated the west- 
ward movement. This was the creation of a new county to be 
taken from Spottsylyania. On the 20th of September of that 
year the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act for that end, 
and its provisions, in part, were as follows: 

"Whereas divers inconveniences attend the upper inhabitants of 
Spottsylvania county, by reason of their great distance from the 
courthouse, and other places usually appointed for public meetings, 
Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant Governor, Council and 
Burgesses of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby 
enacted, by the authority of the same, that from and immediately 
after the first day of January, now next ensuing, the said county 
of Spottsylvania be divided, by the dividing line, between the parish 
of St. George, and the parish of St. Mark; and that tliat part of tlie 
county, which is now the pai-ish of St. George, remain, and be 
called, and known b}' the name of Spottsylvania county ; and that 
all that territorj' of land adjoining to, and above the said line, 
bounden southerly by tlie line of Hanover county, northerly by the 
grant of I^ord Fairfax, and westerly by the utmost limits of Vir- 
ginia, be thenceforth erected into one distinct county and be called 
and known by the name of the county of Orange." The county 
seat was afterwards located at tlie site of the present Orange, Vir- 
ginia. 

That the intention of the act was to encourage settlements to 



and Southwest Virginia 163 

the westward of the Shenandoah, called in the act the "Sherrendo" 
river, is evidenced b}' the recital : "That all inhabitants that shall 
be settled there after tlie first day of January succeeding shall be 
free and exempt from the paiment of public, county, and parish 
levies by the space of three years, from thence next following." 
This act brouglit into existence tlie largest county that was ever 
established in the world. In fact, it was extensive enough in terri- 
tory to be called an empire, but had no white inhabitants, except 
the few settlers in tlie Shenandoah Vallej^ and a few hundreds east 
of the Blue Ridge. Its bounds extended as far nortlierly and 
westerly as the utmost limits of Virginia. The cliarters given by 
.Tames I. to the London Company fixed the northern limits at the 
Great Lakes and the western limits at the Pacific Ocean. 



The British Government grew more restless as the French 
continued to push south from Canada with their forts and trading 
posts, locating them on Virginia territory; and the policy of advanc- 
ing the English settlements as far north and west and as rapidly 
as possible was adopted. In pursuance of this policy, first sug- 
gested by Governor Spottswood, the General Assembly of Virginia 
determined to erect two distinct counties west of the mountains, 
and to hold out stronger inducements for settlers to locate with 
their families in the unexplored and indefinite regions. On the 15th 
of December, 1738, an act was passed by the General Assembly for 
erecting two new counties west of the Blue Ridge, to be called 
Frederick, and Augusta, respectively. The title declared it to be: 
"An Act for erecting two new Counties, and Parislies, and granting 
certain encouragements to tlie inhabitants thereof;" and the pre- 
amble declared that, "Wliereas great numbers of people have set- 
tled tliemselves of late upon the rivers of Sherrendo, Cohongorton, 
and Opeckon, and the branches thereof, on the northwest of the 
Blue Ridge mountains, whereby the strength of this colony, and 
its security upon the frontiers, and his Majesty's revenue of quit- 
rents are like to be much increased and augmented: For giving 
encouragement to such as shall think fit to settle there, Be it 
enacted," etc. 

After outlining the bounds of the two counties, several impor- 
tant provisions were incorporated in the enacting clauses. One of 
these provided that the two new counties should remain attached 
to Orange County and Saint Mark's parish until it was made known 



164 History of Tazewell County 

to the governor and couneil that there was "a siiffieient number of 
inhabitants for appointing justiees of the peaee and other officers 
and erecting courts therein." The act also provided tliat the 
inliabitants should be exempted from "the payment of all public, 
county and parish levies for ten years." And it was further pro^ 
vided that all levies and officers' fees could be paid 'in money, or 
tobacco at three farthings per pound, without any deduction." 

The erection of these two counties confined the bounds of 
Orange County to a comparatively small area east of tlie Blue 
Ridge. As left by the act, which called Frederi,ck and Augusta 
into existence, its territory was composed of the_present counties 
of Orange, Culpeper, Rajjpahannock, Madison^ and Green. All 
the Virginia territory west of the Blue Ridge, except that portion 
of the Valley east of Rockingham and Page counties and a small 
part of the present State of West Virginia, constituted Augusta 
county. This made the extreme limits of Augusta reach westward 
to the Pacific Ocean and northward to Canada. Thus did the 
entire Clinch Valley become a j^art of Augusta County. By the 
treaty of Paris, negotiated in 1763, the limits of Augusta were 
reduced so as to embrace only the ])resent State of Virginia west 
of the Blue Ridge, nearly all of the present Slate of West Virginia, 
all of Kentucky. Ohio. In<liana and Illinois; and jNIichigan and 
Wisconsin, except the j^u-tions of these two states that lie west of 
the Misjsissippi. The county was not regularly organized initil 
1745. On Octobe r .'}Oth of that year Governor Gooch issued "a 
Commission of the Peace" to twenty^ne^citizens of tlie county, 
namely: James Patton, John Lewis, Jolm Buchanan, George Robin- 
son, Peter Scholl, James Bell. Robert Campbell, John Brown, 
Robert Poage, John Pickens. Thomas Lewis, Hugh Thompson, 
Robert Cunningliam. John Tinla (Finley.'') Richard Woods, John 
Christian. Robert Craven. James Kerr, Adam Dickinson, Andrew 
Pickens a nd J ohn Anderson. 

James Patton and Jolni Buchanan, two of the men named in 
this Commission of the Peace, came from Ireland to the Shenan- 
doah Valley about 1735 or 1736, where they soon became leaders 
in the atitairs of that region, and of Augusta Countj^ after its organi- 
zation in 1745. A few years thereafter they became the leading- 
spirits in the exploration and settlement of the Trans-Alleghany 
regions. Patton was a seafaring man and had been a lieutenant in 
the British navy, and was the son-in-law of Benjamin Burden, the 
latter being the agent of Lord Fairfax in the management of his 



and Southwest Virginia 165 

great "Nortliern Neck" grant. Biulianan was a skilled surveyor, 
and was the son-in-law of Colonel Patton. In 1745 Patton was 
made county lieutenant and commander of the militia for Augusta 
County; and a little later secured from tlie Crown a grant for 
120.000 acres of land to be located in Virginia, west of the Alle- 
ghany iNIountains. He organized an ex))loring and surveying expedi- 
tion in the spring of 1718 to locate lands under the grant. His 
party, in addition to himself, consisted of Colonel Jolni Buchanan, 
Charles Campbell, who was son-in-law of Colonel Kuchanan; Dr. 
Thomas Walker, James Wood, and an ample number of hunters, 
chain-carriers^ cooks, etc. The}' had pack-horses in sufficient num- 
bers to carry provisions, ammunition and other things that were 
needed for a long journey and a protracted stay in the wilderness. 
The late Colonel Thomas L. Preston, a great-grandson of Charles 
Campbell, in his "Reminiscences of An Octogenarian," thus speaks 
of the four leading characters of the expedition: 

"Colonel Patton was about fift}'-eight ,years old, of a tall and 
commanding figure and great physical strength and vigor. He 
was wealthy and well educated, and well fitted for the long and 
arduous expedition he planned. His party was also well chosen 
for the same purpose. John Buchanan (his son-in-law) was a 
surveyor, as was also Charles Campbell, both of whom had the 
spirit and courage of the early pioneers, with the physical attri- 
butes of strength and power of endurance. 

"Dr. Thomas Walker, born January 15, 1715, was thirty-three 
years old and in the prime of manliood. He was richly endowed 
with ever^ qualification for such an expedition, mentally and phy- 
sically, *and, as physician and surveyor, a great accession to the 
party." . 

The expedition started out from Colonel Patton's home, near 
the present Waynesboro, Augusta County, where he had a splendid 
estate of 1,^98 acres, which had been a part of the historic "Manor 
Beverley" grant, and which Patton had acquired from William 
Beverle}'^ for the sum of five shillings (831/2 cents). 

If any diary or written record was made of the movements and 
accomplishments of this expedition, it was not preserved; and, 
therefore, such incidents as are of sufficient moment to become 
written history have to be collected from well authenticated tradi- 
tions. This was not the first expedition that had crossed the Alle- 
ghany Mountains in Virginia ; but it was the first that was followed 



166 History of Tazewell County 

with practical results in the way of introducing settlers into the 
splendid section now known as Soutliwest Virginia. It is a well 
establislied historical fact that Major Abram Wood, who lived at 
the falls of Appomattox River, where Petersburg, Virginia, is now 
situated, made a trip of exploration and discover}' to the Upper 
New River Valley in 1654, and that the stream he then discovered 
was afterwards known as Wood's River. No written record was 
preserved of Major Wood's expedition but it is authenticated by 
traditions and circumstances as substantial, comparatively, as those 
connected with the expedition of Colonel Patton. Summers in his 
history of Southwest Virginia says: 

"It is reasonable to believe that Colonel Wood made this trip, 
and, to support this view, three circumstances may be mentioned. 
Fix'st, The House of Burgesses of Virginia had authorized Colonel 
Wood, along with others, in July of the preceding j'car to discover 
a new river of unknown land 'Where no English had ever been or 
discovered.' Secondly. A gap in the Blue Ridge, lying between 
the headwaters of Smith river, a branch of the Dan, in Patrick 
county, and of Little river, a branch of New river, in Floj^d county, 
is to this day called Wood's Gap. Thirdly. The present New 
river was known at first as Wood's river." 

There is but little doubt that Major Wood was hunting for a 
river west of the Blue Ridge that was believed to exist and flow 
into the Pacific Ocean, just as Captain Newport, in 1609, and 
Governor Spottswood, in 1716, had sought and expected to find 
such a stream. In 1666 another exploring expedition visited the 
Upper New River Valley. It was composed of Captain Henry 
Batte, Thomas Wood and Robert Fallen. They acted vmder a com- 
mission issued by Governor Berkeley, had an Appomattox Indian 
for a guide, and traveled on five horses. On the 1st of September, 
1666, the expedition started from the falls of the Appomattox, as 
did that of Major Wood, twelve years previous. Captain Batte 
kept a journal, in which he stated that the object of the expedition 
was "for ye finding out of the ebbing and flowing of ye waters 
behind the mountains in order to the discovery of the South Sea." 
The Virginia colonists, even their governors and other officials, still 
adhered to the belief that the South Sea (the Pacific Ocean) would 
be found a short distance west of tlie Blue Ridge Mountains. Batte 
and his companions failed, of course, to find the South Sea, but 
they did re-discover New River, then known as ^^'ood's River. 



and Southwest Virginia 167 

From their brief description of the country about where they came 
upon the river, historians have been unable to locate the exact, or 
approximately, correct point. It is possible that it was at or near 
the place now known as Austinville, in Wythe County, at the Lead 
Mines. Batte says they found Indian fields with corn stalks in 
them. There was a heavy flood in New River in 1916, and the 
river overflowed the bottom lands doing great damage to crops 
along the shores for a hundred or more miles down the valley. At 
a point not far from Austinville, in a river bottom, a channel was 
cut by the flood, revealing an Indian graveyard and exposing a 
number of skeletons. Evidentlj'^ there had been a Cherokee village 
in the locality, and hence the corn fields. Spottswood's expedition 
was not the first to cross the Blue Ridge, but it was the first to 
enter the Shenandoah Valley. It is also evident that Colonel Pat- 
ton's was not the first expedition to cross the Alleghany Mountains, 
but it was the first that crossed New River, and it was the first to 
enter the territory now embraced in Tazewell County. 

It is claimed by local historians that many years previous to 
the Patton expedition that traders came from east of the mountains 
and visited the Cherokee towns in Tennessee. These traders em- 
ployed Indian guides, and transported their merchandise on pack- 
horses, traveling along the Holston Valley while going to and from 
the Cherokee country". j\fany hunters had also made hunting trips 
from the eastern part of Virginia to the Clinch Valley and Holston 
Valley previous to the visit of Colonel Patton and his company. 
They were attracted here by the great abundance of game, which 
they killed largely for their hides, furs then being very valuable 
for exportation to Europe. Among these hunters was one William 
Clincli, whose name was given to the great valley and the beautiful 
river that has its source in Tazewell County. 

But to return to Colonel Patton and his expedition, made in 
1748. After leaving his home in Augusta County, Patton traveled 
through Rockbridge County until he reached the James River Val- 
ley. Surveys had been made some ten years previously of valuable 
tracts of land where the towns of Pattonsburg and Buchanan are 
now located. Pattonsburg was named in honor of Colonel Patton, 
and is on the north side of the river in Rockbridge County. Buch- 
anan is on the south side of the James, directly opposite Pattons- 
burg. in Botetourt County; and received its name from Colonel 
John Buchanan. These two towns are among the oldest in Virginia, 



168 History of Tazewell County 

not ten years youngei* than Richmond and Petersburg. Patton on 
this occasion also located lands in the Catawba Valley and at 
Amsterdam in Botetourt County. From thence he went to the 
Roanoke Valley, and made surveys on Stroubles Creek, and located 
a large boundary at the present Blacksburg, which was first called 
Draper's Meadows and afterwards Smithfield, the latter name being 
given the place at the time Colonel William Preston became its 
owner. Leaving Draper's Meadows, the Patton party crossed 
New River at Ingles' Ferry, which is about a mile up the river 
from Radford, and traveled on toward the Holston River, or, as it 
was then known, Indian River, locating choice lands at different 
points on the route. A large survey was made just south of Max 
Meadows, in Wythe County, and Colonel Patton named the tract 
^Anchor and Hope," and gave it to his daughter, who was the 
wife of Colonel Buchanan. A few years later Colonel Buchanan 
moved from Pattonsburg, where he had previously settled, and built 
himself a home near where the present "Anclior and Hope CIiur;h" 
now stands. 

From "Anchor and Hope." Colonel Patton and his party made 
their way to the headwaters of the Middle Fork of Holston River. 
In that locality a very fine boundary of land, consisting of 1 .300 acres 
was surveyed and given the name of "Davis' Fancy." It was 
patented to James Davis, who may possibly have gone there with 
the Patton party. A large jiortion of this tract is now owned and 
occupied by George W. Davis, great -great-grandson of James DaAis. 
From "Davis' Fancy," Colonel Patton led his party down the Hol- 
ston Valley to the beautiful country about the present Seven Mile 
I'Ord, in Sm3'th County. Wiiile camping at that place they were 
visited by Charles Sinclair, a hermit hunter, who had built himself 
a cabin on the South Fork of Holston River three miles south of 
Seven Mile Ford. The Hon. H. F. Buchanan, of Marion, Virginia, 
and whose ancestress was a sister of Colonel John Buchanan, had 
frequent interviews with the late Colonel Thomas L. Preston; and 
from him learnid certain interesting facts that transpired after 
Sinclair joined the Patton party. As related by Colonel Preston 
to Mr. Jiuchanan, they are substantially as follows: 

"Colonel Preston told me that on reaching some point on the 
Holston this exploring party was visited by a man named Sinclair, 
who told the party that he was well acquainted with this section of 
the counlrv and knew the best lands, as he had hunted all over it; 



and Southwest Virginia 109 

that he was on friendly terms with the Indians and eoidd insure 
the jjarty against attacks by them ; and proposed to guide them and 
show them the choice lands, if they would make a survey and have 
the patent issued to him of a tract of land on the South Fork of 
the Holston River^ where he was located. This was agreed to, the 
survey w^as made, and a tract still known as St. Clairs Bottom, 
three miles south of Seven Mile Ford, was surveyed and afterwards 
patented to Sinclair." 

Colonel Preston, who was the great-grandson of Charles Camp- 
bell, one of the explorers in the party, stated, from family traditions, 
what transpired after the expedition reached Cumberland Gap. He 
said that: "On reaching the summit of the mountain where the three 
states of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee now join, they pitched 
their tents, and Patton, in gratitude for the princely grant which 
had been given him, named the mountain and river that rises along 
its western base for the Duke of Cumberland." The traditions in 
the Preston and Campbell families also held that when the Patton 
party returned from Cumberland GajD they were shown the choice 
lands on the North Fork of Holston River in the present Smyth 
County, and were also conducted to Burke's Garden by the hunter, 
Sinclair. These occurrences as related by Colonel Preston are 
substantially as follows: 

On the return of the party from Cumberland Gap, Sinclair 
conducted it across Walker's Mountain into Rich Valley, by way of 
Saltville, where they located a tract of 330 acres of land, in the 
name of Charles Campbell and named it the "Buffalo Lick." They 
then traveled up the North Fork of Holston River, located the 
Taylor bottoms near and above the present Broadford, which 
included "Campbells Choice," a boundary of 1,400 acres of, pos- 
sibly, the finest land in Virginia. After surveying "Campbells 
Choice," the party went into and through Locust Cove; and all of 
the Cove was located for Colonel John Buchanan. He gave this 
magnificent boundary, which is underlaid with the finest gypsum 
on earth, to his sister, Martha Buchanan, the wife of Captain John 
Buchanan. A few years later Captain Buchanan and his wife moved 
to the cove, and Archibald Buchanan, a brother of the captain, 
also located in that vicinity. The greater part of "Locust Cove" 
is still owned and ox*cupied by descendants of Captain Buchanan and 
his wife, Mart ha ; and practically all the B uchanans in Tazewell 
and Smyth counties are their desc'eiidants. From the C ove the p arty 



170 History of Tazewell County 

made its way to Burke's Garden. According to Colonel Thomas L. 
Preston: "It was late in the fall, and the next morning, after 
reaching the Garden, a lieavy snow had fallen, and they determined 
to suspend their surveying until the next year. After cooking their 
breakfast, a man named Burke, who was with the party as an axman 
or chain-carrier, cleared awaj^ the place where their fire had been 
made, and planted a lot of potato peelings, covering them lightly 
with brush. The following Spring or Summei*, Patton and Buch- 
anan, accompanied hj William^In^les, returned to survey lands, and 
found a large bed of potatoes wliere Burke had planted the peelings, 
and they gave it the name "Burke's Garden." Surveys were made 
in the Garden, and patents issued afterwards to William Ingles and 
to William Thompson, a son-in-law of Patton." 

There can be no question of the fact that Colonel^^^tton and 
his party were the first men who ever visited Burke's Garden with 
a view of locating land and preparing it for settlement by white 
men. But it is asserted and believed by many, who speak from 
tradition, that James Burke had previously made hunting trips to 
the Garden and had built and occupied a cabin on the farm now 
owned by Rufus Thompson. This matter of dispute, however, will 
be given more ample notice furtlicr on in tliis volume. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE WALKER AND GIST EXPEDITIONS. 

All the lands surveyed by the Patton expedition in 1748 were 
located under authority of the grant for 120,000 acres that Colonel 
Patton received frora Geox'ge II. After returning to their homes 
in the east, Colonel James Patton, Dr. Thomas Walker, and others, 
organized and incorporated what was known as the "Loyal Com- 
pany;" and secured from the English Crown a grant for 800,000 
acres of land to be located north of the North Carolina line and west 
of the Alleghany Mountains. Dr. Walker was made agent for this 
company, and both he and his company played a conspicuous part 
in the early seitleraent and development of that portion of South- 
west Virginia west of New River. The first land ever surveyed in 
Tazewell County, so far as existing records show, was under the 
800.000 acre grant lo the Loyal Company. On October 14th, 1750, 
a tract containing 650 acres, located at "Crabapple Orchard, Waters 
of Clinch River," was surveyed for one John Shelton and, on the 
16th of the same month and year, another tract of 1,000 acres was 
surve5^ed for Shelton on a "Branch of Clinch River." Thomas 
Lewis was then surveyor of Augusta County, but the surveying of 
these two tracts was done by Colonel John Buchanan, as deputy for 
Lewis. The "Crabapple Orchard" tract is the same boundary, 
which Bickley, in his History of Tazewell County, published in 
1852, says was occupied in 1768 by two hunters, Butler and Carr; 
and that Butler sold it to Thomas Witten in 1771. The 1,000 acre 
tract was, no doubt, also on Plum Creek; and a part of the lands 
afterward owned bj' the sons of Thomas Witten, a goodly portion 
of which is still possessed by their descendants. 

In the spring of 1750, Dr. Walker organized an exploring party 
at his home in Albemarle County to further explore the Virginia 
territory west of New River. This was done, apparently, for the 
purpose of discovering choice lands to be located for the Loyal 
Company, and to select desirable places for settlements. Dr. 
Walker kept a record of the route followed by him and the daily 
performances of the expedition. Walker's journal shows that no 
effort was made by him, or by an}^ one of his partv, to survey lands 
during the expedition; and that they traveled every day, except 
when prevented by inclement weather or while resting on the Sab- 

(171) 



172 History of Taztnvoll C ouiity 

hath, until tlie journey was completed. The first paragraph of the 
journal reads thus: "Having on the 12th of Ueceniber last been 
employed for a certain c(msideration to go to the westward in order 
to discover a proj)er place for a settlement, I left my home on the 
(ith day of jNTarch. 17i9-'50, in com])any witii Ambrose Powell. 
W'iiliani Tondinson. Colby Chew. Henry Lawless & .John Hughes. 
Each man had a horse and \se had two to carry the baggage; I 
lodged this night al Col. .losliua I'ry's, in the Albemarle, which 
county includes the Chief of the head Branches of James River 
on the east side of the Blue Ridge." 

Historians and investigators have been so confused by the 
peculiar entry in Dr. Walker's journal, "the 6th day of March, 
1749-'50/' that they have been unable to determine \<^hether it meant 
March 6th 1749, or IVIarch 6th^ 1750. However, it has been gener- 
ally accepted that he started on his expedition the 6th day of March, 
1750. This, I believe, is correct. There is one very prominent fact 
which shows that Dr. Walker and his companions began their 
journey on the 6th of March, 1750. The "Loyal Company," in 
whose interest the expedition was made, did not secure its grant for 
the 800,000 acres until the 12tli of July, 1749. The company would 
hardly have started out an exploring party and promised its agent, 
Dr. W^alker, a valuable consideration, previous to receiving the 
grant. At that period the British Government was anxious to 
extend the frontiers of Virginia as far west and north as possible, 
to block the advances that M^ere being made south from the lakes 
and east from the Mississippi by the French. To that end large 
grants of land were given to individuals and companies who woidd 
agree to solicit and secure settlers on the frontiers. In pursuance 
of this policy, the governor and council of Virginia, on the 12th day 
of July, 1749, granted to the "Ohio Company" 500,000 acres of 
land and to the "Loyal Company" 800,000 acres. The "Ohio Com- 
pany" was to locate its surveys south of the Oliio River, and, as 
previously stated, the Loyal Company was to take up its lands north 
of tilt North Carolina line and west of the Alleghany Mountains. 

This ])ut two strong, ri\'al companies in the field, both being 
commercial or financial enter})rises. Though there was a vast 
unexplored region a\ailable to entry by the rival companies, each 
manifested eagerness to get first in the field with exploring and 
surveying parties. The Ohio Company engaged the services of 
Christopher Gist, a Marylander aiul a noted surveyor, as their agent. 



and Southwest X'irginia 173 

He was instructed to liasten with a corps of men to the country 
bordering on the Ohio, now West Virginia and Kentucky, and search 
for choice lands ahing the Ohio River and other tributaries of the 
Mississippi. His instructions were very ample and urgent; but 
Gist did not start with his expedition until some time in October, 
1750. From tliis it will be seen that the Walker part}' started out 
seven montlis in advance of the Gist expedition. These facts sub- 
stantially prove that Walker made his second explorations in South- 
west Virginia, in 1750; and it is certainly true that the first surveys 
in this section for the Loyal Company were made during that year. 
Persons who are familiar with the geography of Virginia, and 
especially of the Southwest joortion of the State, can, by inspecting 
Dr. Walker's journal, easily trace the route pursued by his party 
until they reached Cumberland Gap. From Wal ker 's home, in 
Albemarle County, they traveled through the present counties of 
Nelson and Amherst to the James River, and crossed that stream 
at or near where Lynchburg is now located on the 12tli of March. 
On the morning of the 13th, Dr. Walker says, in his journal: "We 
went early to William Calloway's and supplied ourselves with Rum, 
Thread and other necessaries & from thence took the main Wagon 
Road leading to Wood's or the New River. It is not well cleared 
or beaten yet, but will be a very good one with proper management." 
It seems that the Doctor and his companions tliought Rum a neces'- 
sary article to be taken on the trip, and he, a physician, mentioned 
it as the first of the necessaries. They then traveled on througli 
Buford's Valley, just east of th" Blue Ridge, crossed that mountain 
at Buford's Gap, pronouncing "tire ascent and descent is so easy 
that a stranger would not know when he crossed the Ridge." The 
author crossed the "Ridge" at this point in the fall of 1863, and 
can affirm that Dr. Walker's statement as to the character of the 
pass is very accurate. After crossing the Ridge the party entered 
the Roanoke Valley at or near Bonsacks, and from there went to 
the "Great Lick on a Branch of the Staunton." The Roanoke River 
was then called the Staunton, as it was a tributary of the Staunton 
River. At the Great Lick they bought corn for their horses from 
Michael Campbell ; and then proceeded up the river to a point above 
Salem, where Walker says they "Lodged at James Robinson's, the 
only place where they had corn to spare." Thence they followed 
the stream "to W^illiam Englishe's." This was William Ingles, who 
had then settled at Draper's Meadows, and whose family and 
descendants in a few years became tragically associated with the 



174 History of Tazewell County 

history of Southwest Virginia and 'J'azewel! County. Evidently the 
Upper Roanoke Valley was then attracting many Scoteh-Irish set- 
tlers from Pennsj'lvania and the Shenandoah Valley. 

Leaving the home of Ingles, the Walker party passed down the 
Alleghany Mountains, crossed New River at, or near, the point 
wlierc William Ingles afterwards built a fort, and on the west side 
of the river came in contact with a small colony of Dunkards, who 
had recently settled at a place which is still known as "Dunkard's 
Bottom." Walker and his company remained several days as the 
guests of this humble Christian people; and then moved on, by 
way of Reed Creek, towards the Holston Valley. On the night of 
the 22nd of March they camped at a large spring "about five miles 
below Davis' Bottom on Holston River." This is, no doubt, the 
large sj^ring at tlie northeast end of Marion, Virginia, near the pas- 
senger station of the Norfolk and Western Railway, and now tlic 
property of that company. 

The following day, the 23rd of March, they traveled down the 
Middle Fork of Holston River about four miles and again went 
into camp; and Dr. W^alker wrote in his journal that day: "Mr. 
Powell and I went to look for Samuel Stalnaker, who I had been 
informed had moved out to settle. We found his Camp and returned 
to our own in the Evening. The following day (the 21'th) he entered 
in his journal: "We went to Stalnaker's. helped him to raise his house 
and Camped about a quarter of a mile below him. In April, 17J?8. 
I met the above mentioned Stalnaker between the Reedy Creek 
Settlement and Holston River, on his way to the Cherokee Indians, 
and expected him to pilot me as far as he knew, but his att'airs 
would not permit him to go with me." 

It is wonderful how in those primitive days persons traveling 
through an almost pathless wilderness, could, in some way, learn 
that a bold pioneer had plunged into the wilds, with axe and rifle, 
to build a home for liimself and family. Stalnaker had already cut 
and prepared tlie logs for his rude dwelling when Walker and his 
party came upon the scene and helped him "to raise his house." 
That was the first "house-raising" that occurred in the Holston 
Valley. The exact location of Stalnaker's home has never been 
ascertained, but could not have been very far from Seven IMile Ford, 
and was near the place where Charles Sinclair joined Colonel Pat- 
ton and Dr. Walker in 17 IS. Of the future history of this man 
Stalnaker very little is known. Summers, in his valuable history 
of Southwest Virginia, savs: 



and Southwest Virginia 175 

"On the 29tli of July, 1756, a Council of War assembled at 
Staunton, by direction of the Governor of Virginia, to determine at 
what points forts should be built along the frontiers for the protec- 
tion of the settlers. 

"The Council was composed of Colonel John Buchanan, Samuel 
Stalnaker and others, of which Council Wm. Preston acted as clerk. 
There can be no doubt that Captain Samuel Stalnaker represented 
the Holston settlement and that it was at his request that the stock- 
ade fort was built at Dunkards' Bottom, on New River, and at 
Davis' Bottom, at the headwaters of the Middle Fork of Holston 
River." 

It appears that a party of Indians made a hostile visit to the 
Upper Holston Valley in June, 1755, and made Samuel Stalnaker 
a prisoner, but he escaped from the savages. In a register of the 
persons killed by the Indians in this foray the names of Adam Stal- 
naker and Mrs. Stalnaker appear. They were the wife and son of 
Samuel Stalnaker. 

But to return to Dr. Walker and his exploring party. On the 
26th of March, twenty days after starting from Albemarle County, 
they separated from Samuel Stalnaker, and saw no more settlers 
until their remarkable circuit journey was almost completed. While 
going up a creek that is a branch of the Greenbrier River, about 
noon, July 7th, Dr. Walker notes in his journal, "5 men overtook 
us and informed us we were only 8 miles from the inhabitants on 
a Branch of James River called Jackson's River."' From Stal- 
naker's settlement, then the farthest west in Southwest Virginia, 
they traveled "nigh west" to a large spring on a Branch of the 
north fork of Holston. Thence they went to Reedy Creek and down 
that creek to the Holston River. There they foimd an elm tree of 
such immense size that curiosity prompted them to measure its 
girth; and they found it was 25 feet in circumference. Tliey 
crossed the North Fork of the Holston at a ford about a half mile 
above where the North and the South Fork come together. From 
that point they traveled a northwest course, crossed over Clinch 
Mountain, and got to Clinch River near the present Sneedsville. in 
Hancock County, Tennessee. This was on the 9th of April, and Dr. 
Walker states in his journal: "We travelled to a river, which I 
suppose to be that which the hunters Call Clinche's River, from one 
Clinch a Hunter, who first found it." 

From "Clinches River" they continued their journey toward Cum- 



176 History of Tazewell County 

btrland Gap. wJiich seemed to be tlicir objective. On tlie route 
l)iir.sue(l they passed over and along a number of streams^ some of 
wliieh liad already been given names; but by whom, when and why 
they were so named Dr. Walker did not state as he did about 
"Clinehe's River." The 11th of April he wrote in his journal, "We 
came to Turkey Creek, which we kept down 4 miles ;" and on the 
12th, after crossing over a certain mountain he made a note: 
"From this mountain we rode 4 miles to Beargrass River." While 
traveling up this river he found "some small pieces of coal and a 
great plenty of very good yellow flint, and added: "The water is 
the most transparent I ever saw. It is about 70 yds. wide." Sum- 
mers says: "On the 12th day of April they reached Powell's river, 
ten miles from Cumberland Gap. It is well to note at this point that 
Ambrose Powell, one of Ur. Walker's companions, cut Lis name 
upon a tree on the bank of this river, which name and ti*ee were 
found in the year 1770 by a party of fifteen or twenty Virginians 
on their way to Kentucky on a hunting expedition, from which cir- 
cumstance the Virginia Long Hunters gave it the name of Powell's 
river, which it still retains." Thus the stream which Dr. Walker 
called Beargrass River, had its name changed to Powell's River. 

On the 13th of April, five weeks after leaving his home in 
Albemarle County, Dr. Walker with his company arrived at Cum- 
berland Gap, and in his journal called it "Cave Gap." Some of the 
historians who have written about the expedition hold that this was 
the first exjjloring party that reached the gap ; and that it was on 
this occasion that Dr. Walker gave the name, "Cumberland, ' to 
the gap, the mountain, and the river that now bear the name. Dr. 
Hale, in his "Trans-Alleghany Pioneers," and L. P. Summers, in his 
"History of Soutliwest Virginia." accept this claim as true; and 
it is possible that quite a number of writers have, successively, 
followed each other to that conclusion. Theodore Roosevelt in 
his "Winning of the West says: "One explorer had found and 
named I lie Cumberland river and mountains and the great pass called 
Cumberland Gap." This ex])lorer Mr. Roosevelt says was Dr. 
Thomas Walker of Virginia. But Roosevelt states in this eonnec 
tion that Walker had been to the Cumberland region in 1748, at the 
time Colonel Thomas L, Preston and others have said, that Colonel 
.Fames Palton. alcmg with Dr. Walker, Jolin Buchanan and others 
discovered the Gap and named it for the Duke of Cumberland. 
Colonel Preston based his claim upon information he received by 
tradition, that came down to him through two preceding generations 



and^Southwest^Virginia 177 

of the descendants of Charles Campbell and Colonel John Buchanan^ 
who were with Colonel Patton and Dr, Walker in their expedition 
of 17i8. Colonel Preston was a descendant of Campbell and Bueh 
anan, his mother being the granddaughter of Charles Campbell and 
the great-granddaughter of Colonel Buchanan. Therefore, Colonel 
Preston's information was as substantially correct as anj^ can be 
that is derived from tradition. When this is reinforced by the 
admission that Walker had visited the Cumberland region in 174<8 
with Colonel Patton, it makes the contention that Colonel Patton 
discovered and named Cumberland Gap very hard to overthrow. 

On the other hand, there is very strong supporting evidence in 
Walker's Journal of the position taken by the historians afore- 
mentioned, tliat Dr. Thomas Walker named it Cumberland Gap. 
He passed through the gap, which he then called "Cave Gap," on 
the 13th of April, 1750, and entered Kentucky, for tlie first time, as 
there is no claim that the Patton expedition went through the gap 
or over the Cumberland ]\Iountains in 1748. After passing through 
the gap. Dr. Walker says, in his journal: "On the North West 
side we came to a Branch that made a great deal of flat land. We 
kept down it 2 miles, several other branches coming in to make it a 
large creek, and we called it Flat Creek. We camped on the Bank, 
where we found very good Coal." 

On the 14th they traveled down the creek, "5 miles chiefly along 
the Indian lload." The 15th was Easter Sunday, but that lioly 
day was not observed by the explorers, as they continued their 
journey for a reason assigned by Dr. Walker in his journal: "Being 
in bad grounds for our Horses we moved 7 miles along the Indian 
Road to Clover Creek. Clover and Hop Vines are plenty hex-e." 
It is known that the common red clover is indigenous to this country, 
but the hop vine is still pronounced a doubtful native of North 
America. If these two valuable plants were growing a "plenty" in 
a Kentucky wilderness, where white men had never dwelt and wliere 
no recent aboriginal inliabitants had been even temporarily located, 
how did the clover and the hops get tliei-e.^ 

It rained the Ifith and the party remained in camp, the horses, 
no doubt, feasting on the clover. On the 17th it still rained, and 
Dr. Walker relates: "I went down tlie Creek a liunting and found 
that it went into a Hiver about a mile below our Camp. Tliis, which 
is Flat Creek and some others joined, I called Cumberland River." 

It looks very much like Dr. Walker had concluded to give names 

to important streams, passes and other landmarks that he found 
T.H.— 1 2 



178 History of Tazewell County 

while on his exploring tour; and is conelusive evidence that he was 
the first to name the river tlie Cumberland. But it does not definitely 
settle the disputed question of who gave the name to Cumberland 
Gap. This, however, is an inconsequential matter, and one can 
take either side of the controversy without detracting from the 
fame of either Colonel Patton or Dr. Walker. What they, each, 
accomplished in the way of exploring the regions west of the Alle- 
ghanies, and introducing settlers into this mai'velously rich territory, 
will cause their names to be honored as long as the people of South- 
w^est Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky retain any interest in 
the local history of their immediate countr}'. 

Having discovered the Cumberland River, Dr. W^alker on the 
18th of April began to explore the river, moving along and down it, 
on the south side thereof, a distance of seventeen miles. On the 21st 
of April they determined to cross to the north side of the river, 
and built a bark canoe to get their baggage over. On the 22nd, 
which was the Sabbath, one of the horses was unable to walk; 
and Dr. Walker proposed that he and two others should continue 
the exploration, and the balance of the company remain in camp 
until they returned. Ambrose Powell and Colbey Chew were selected 
for Walker's companions. The entire party crossed the river to 
the north side; and Walker, Powell and Chew started down the 
Cumberland. They traveled about 35 miles and then returned to 
the camp. After breaking camp on the 31st of April, Walker and his 
companions continued to explore the country west and north of the 
Cumberland Mountains. Though Dr. Walker was a skilled sur- 
veyor, for some reason, he failed to make any note in his journal of 
the courses they followed; and, consequently, it is almost impossible 
for any one, though familiar with the section of country traveled, 
to follow the meanderings of the party. He continued to give names 
to the new streams he discovered, naming one for each of his three 
associate explorers, Powell, Tomlinson and Lawless. 

Sometime in May, not definitely stated in his journal, Dr. 
Walker and his party changed their course to the east, and 
crossed the Cumberland Mountain into the present territory of 
Virginia, leaving what is now Kentucky. At what point tney enterea 
this State is not certainly known, being merely conjectural; and it 
is impossible to even approximately fix the devious course followed 
by the expedition previous to its arrival on the west bank of New- 
River, just below the mouth of the Greenbrier. The most reason- 
able conclusion is, that on the journey from the Cumberland region, 



and Southwest Virginia 179 

they passed through the present counties of Wise, Dickenson, 
Buchanan and Tazewell. Virginia, and Mercer and wSummers coun- 
ties, West Virginia, all these counties then being a part of Augusta 

County. 

Major Jed Hotchkiss, who was a distinguished civil engineer 
and mineralogist, and well known throughout Virginia before and 
after the Civil War, brought to public attention the journal of 
Dr. Walker. And Major Hotchkiss, after a careful study of the 
matter, confidently asserted that Dr. Walker was at the present 
site of Pocahontas, Tazewell County, Virginia, in 1750, and that 
he was the first man to discover and make mention of the great 
coal deposits about Pocahontas and in the Flat Top region. If 
Walker did visit the Flat Top coal region, it is absolutely certain 
that he and his company passed through Wise, Dickenson and Buch- 
anan counties to get there; and then through Mercer and Summers 
counties, West Virginia, to get to New River. On the 28th of June 
Dr. Walker made the following entry in his journal: 

"It continued raining till noon, and we set off as soon as it 
ceased and went down the Branch we lay on to the New River just 
below the mouth of Green Bryer. Powell, Tomlinson and myself 
stripped, and went into the New Ri\ er to try if we could wade over 
at any place. After some time having found a place we returned 
to the others and took such things as would take damage by water 
on our Shoulders and waded over Leading our Horses. The bottom 
is very uneven, the Rocks very slippery and the Current very strong 
most of the way. We Camped in Low Ground opposite to the mouth 
of Green Bryer." 

Leaving the New River, Dr. Walker and his companions traveled 
up the Greenbrier and its tributaries, and crossed the Alleghany 
Mountains to the headwaters of James River. They visited the Hot 
Springs, and then passed on down into Rockbridge County. From 
there they went to Augusta Court House (Staunton), arriving at 
that place on the 11th of July. The following day. Dr. Walker 
separated from his company, and started, unaccompanied, to his 
home in Albemai'le County, whei'e he arrived at noon on the 13th 
of July, 1750. Thus was completed one of the most eventful explor- 
ing expeditions ever made to Southwest Virginia. Dr. Walker 
liad occupied four months and one week from the beginning to the 
completion of the journey; and his journal discloses very little of 
the real purposes of the expedition. From various entries in his 



180 History of Tazewell County 

journal, it appears he was liunting for valuable minerals more 
eagerly tlian for suitable places for settlements. He made a very 
clifKeult and dangerous trip through the rugged region west and 
north of the Clinch Valley, wliere there was but little game and a 
great scarcity of herbage for his horses, when by coming up the 
Clinch Valley he could have found an abundance of both. On the 
2 1st of June Walker entered in his journal: "Deer are very scarce 
On the Coal Land. I have seen but 4 since the 30tli of April." He 
was evidently very much interested in the "Coal Land." But he 
must have had no conception of the unmeasured wealth, in the shape 
of "black diamonds," that was hidden beneath the surface of the 
territory lying between the Cumberland Mountain and New River, 
and then open for entry by the Loyal Company under its 800,000 
acre grant. If he or the company had realized its value, they would 
liave lost but little time in locating the entire grant in that seemingly 
poor and valueless region. 

Dr. Walker's report of his discoveries to the Loyal Company 
must have been satisfactory. Though it was greatly hampered by 
the Ohio Company, it made strenuous effort to anticipate that 
company in finding and locating the best lands in the New River 
territory and in the Clinch and Holstcm valleys. In fact, in October, 
following Dr. Walker's return from liis exploring tour in 1750, the 
Loyal Company had oiu- surveyor and possibly others at active 
work in the Holston and Clinch \alleys. As previously stated, 
.lolni Buchanan, on October 1 ith, 1750. surveyed the "Crabapple 
Orcliartl"' tract, at Pisgah, three miles west of Tazewell, for John 
Siu'lton. it being the same boundary that Thomas Wittcn settled 
on in 17(57. And <m the Kith of October, Buchanan surveyed another 
tract of 1.000 acres on a "Branch of Clinch River," for Shelton. 
Both of these tracts were located under the grant of 800,000 to the 
Loyal Company. SuTnmers says: "About this time the 'Ohio Com- 
pany entered a caveat against the 'Loyal Company,' and the 'Loyal 
Company' got into a dispute with Colonel James Patton, who had 
an unfinished grant below where this company were to begin, and 
no further progress was made until June 14th, 1753." 

Xotwithslanding these obstructions to its enterprise. Dr. Walker, 
and other surveyors of the comj^any. by the end of the year 1754 
had located 221' tracts of land in Southwest Virginia, aggregating 
more than 45.000 acres. Most of these lands were sold to prospec- 
tivc settlers, and a goodly number had been promptly occupied by 
the purchasers. 



and Southwest Virginia 181 

Tiiough the "Ohio Company" did not get its exploring agent. 
Christopher Gist, into the field until October, 1750. after starting- 
he was quite as energetic in the prosecution of the work for his 
company as Dr. Walker had proved to be in his performances for 
the Loyal Company. As before related, Christopher Gist set out 
on his exi^loring expedition, from his liome on the Potomac River, 
in October, 1750. Following the instructions of his employers, lie 
crossed the Alleghany Mountains, and passed through what is now- 
West Virginia to the Ohio River and explored tlie country along 
that stream as far down as the Great P'alls, where the city of Louis- 
ville is now located. He devoted the entire winter of 1750-51 to 
exploring Kentucky. In the spring of 1751 he reached the Cumber- 
land Mountain at Pound Gap, and came through that gap to the 
southeast side of the Cumberland range, entering the present Wise 
County, Virginia. Then he traveled down Gist River (now called 
Guest's River) to the Powell and Clinch valleys. From that region 
he made his way northeastward, pursuing very nearly the same 
route that Dr. Walker had followed the preceding summer. His 
course was along what is named on the maps the "Dividing Ridge," 
which divides the watersheds of the Clinch and Sandy valleys. 
It is possible that he was also making notes of the coal and other 
minerals, and that he was at or in the vicinitj'^ of Pocahontas. He 
passed through Mercer and Summers counties, West Virginia, and 
on Tuesday, the 7th day of May. 1751, crossed the New River at 
a point near what is known as Crump's Bottom, one of the finest 
boundaries of land in the Middle New River section. This fine 
estate is now owned and occupied, by a Tazewell man, George W. 
Harman, a descendant of Mathias Harman, the mighty Indian 
fighter. Summers says, in his History of Southwest Virginia, that, 
after crossing New River, Gist traveled in an easterly direction 
and that : 

"On Saturday, the lith, he came to a very high mountain, upon 
the top of which was a lake or pond about three-fourths of a mile 
long northeast and southwest, and one-fourth of a mile wide, the 
water fresh and clear, its borders a clean gravely shore about ten 
yards wide, and a fine meadow with six springs in it. 

"From this description, it is evident that Gist visited Salt Lake 
mountain, in Giles county, Va., as early as 1751. and found the lake 
as it now is. 

"It is evident from this journal that the traditions that we so 



182 History of Tazewell County 

often hear repeated about this lake are nothing more than mythical, 
and that this lake existed as it now is at the time of the earliest 
explorations of the white man." 

Commenting on these assertions of Summers, the late Judge 
David E. Johnston, in his "History of the Middle New River Set- 
tlements/' says: "If tradition well authenticated is to be taken 
when supported b}' well attested evidence, then Christopher Gist 
never saw Mountain Lake in Giles county. The earliest settlers in 
the vicinity of the lake and who lived longest, left the unbroken 
tradition that when they first knew the place where the lake now 
exists there was a deep depression between the mountains into which 
flowed the water from one of the springs which found its outlet at 
the northeastern portion of the depression, and in this gorge or 
depression was a favorite salting ground in which the settlers salted 
their cattle by whose continued tramping the crevices through 
which the water from the springs found an escape, became closed 
and the depression began to fill with water. This filling began 
in 1804 and by 1818 the water in the depression had risen to about 
one-half its present height." 

As late as the summer of 18(jl, the writer of this volume had 
intimate association with a gentleman who had owned the basin 
previous to the existence of the lake in question and while it was 
forming. This gentleman was Hon. Henley Chapman, the most 
distinguished citizen Giles County has ever produced, and one of 
the pioneers of that section. His father was John Chapman, who 
moved with his family from Culpeper County to the Shenandoah 
Valley in 1766; and after living in that valley two years came on 
to New River, where he settled at the mouth of Walker's Creek, 
in the present Giles County, in 1768. His son, Henley, was born 
there, where he lived an honored citizen until the year 1864. He 
was a lawyer by profession, was the first Commonwealth's Attorney 
of Giles County, one of the first attorneys who qualified to practice 
law in the count)' court of Tazewell County after its organization 
in 1800, and was a member of the convention that framed the Vir- 
ginia Constitution of 1829. 

Mr. Chapman told me that he owned the place where Mountain 
Lake is now seen, and ranged his cattle, as did other settlers, on 
the mountain thereabout ; and that he and others used the basin 
as a salting ground for their cattle. His account of the formation 
of the lake was precisely the same as that given by Judge Johnston. 



and Southwest Virginia 183 

I was fourteen years old in 1861^ and was spending the summer with 
my uncle, Albert G. Pendleton, who then lived at "Fort Branch", 
just southeast of Pearisburg, where Judge Martin B. Williams now 
lives. During this visit I went to the "Salt Pond," as it was then 
called, with a party of young people, among whom were two grand- 
sons and two granddaughters of Mr. Chapman. Even at that early 
age I was intensely interested in the local history of Southwest 
Virginia, and an ardent lover of its great physical beauty. The 
splendid lake of fresh water on the summit of the lofty mountain 
made a deep impression upon my young mind and heart. Together 
with the Chapman boys, I rowed out on the lake in a small boat ; and 
we could see large forest trees still standing erect in the lake, 
beneath the crystal water. After retui-ning from the expedition to 
the "Salt Pond" I made a visit of several days at Mount Pleasant, 
the home of Mr. Chapman, near the mouth of Walker's Creek. The 
old gentleman was very fond of playing checkers, and was the best 
player I ever tackled. While we were playing checkers in his 
room I mentioned the "Salt Pond" and my recent visit to it; and 
he said the trees I had seen in the lake were there, alive and full 
of foilage in the summer time, when he salted his cattle in the basin, 
and before the water began to accumulate in a body. 

The testimony I have cited is not tradition, but is given by a 
man who was born and reared within a dozen miles of "Salt Pond," 
and had actual personal knowledge of the origin of the lake. It 
proves beyond a doubt that Gist could not have seen the "Salt 
Pond," as it was not in existence when he made his exploring trip 
in 1750 for the Ohio Company. Moreover his description of the 
physical surroundings of the lake do not correspond with those of 
the "Salt Pond." The "gravelly shore about ten yards wide," and 
"a fine meadow with six fine springs in it," are physical impossi^ 
bilities at the location of "Salt Pond," on "Salt Pond Mountain." 
The very name fixes the origin of the lake. It was never called 
Mountain Lake until after the Civil War, when it was purchased 
by General Haupt. of Pennsylvania, from the heirs of Henley Chap- 
man. I visited the "Salt Pond" again in August, 1871, ten years 
after my first visit. It then presented the same appearance, and, 
from a boat, the forest trees were still visible, still standing erect 
in the transparent water. 



When Dr. Thomas Walker made his second exploring visit to 
that portion of Southwest Virginia which lies west of New River, 



184 History of Tazewell County 

a ciirrenl of iininigration had already slarU-d in tliis dirtction. He 
found settlers all along the Upper Roanoke Valley, at Draper's 
Meadows, and the Diinkard eolony at Dunkard's Bottom on the 
west side of New River. On Reed Creek, near Max Meadows, lie 
lodged with James McCall and bought from him a supply of baeoii 
for his exploring party. In the Middle Holston Valley, at a point 
somewhere between Marion and Seven Mile Ford, he found Samuel 
Stalnaker preparing for a permanent settlement, and tlie Walker 
party gave a day to helping the pioneer "raise" his house. Stal- 
naker, it seems, was then the most advanced settler west of New 
River; and when Ur. Walker and his companions separated from 
him, Walker wrote in his journal: "We left the Inhabitants." 

Dr. John Hale, in his intensely interesting book, the "Trans- 
Alleghan}' Pioneers," states that the settlement at Draper's 
Meadows was made in 1748. It is evident that the first settlers 
at that place came in the wake of the Patton-Walker exploring 
expedition of that year. They consisted, so far as is known, of 
Thomas Ingles and his three sons, William, Matthew, and John; 
Mrs. George Draper and her son, John, and daughter, Mary; 
Adam Harmon, Henry Lenard, and James Burke. Their homes 
were built upon the present site and lands of the Virginia Pol}'- 
technic Institute, at Blacksburg, the land they occupied being pur- 
chased from Colonel Patton. The Ingles, the Harmons and James 
Burke were later on prominent figures in the settlement of the 
Clincli Valley and Burke's Garden. In the spring of 1749, Adam 
Harmon moved from Draper's Meadows to the New River Vallej^ 
and settled at the place now known as Eggleston's Springs. Very 
soon thereafter Philip Lybrook moved in and settled on New River, 
near the mouth of Sinking Creek, about three miles below Harmon; 
and a little later on the Snidows, Chapmans and others came from 
the Shenandoah Vallej^ and settled near Lybrook. There were 
other settlements made about the same time at several points in the 
present counties of Pulaski, Wythe and Smyth ; but no permanent 
settlements were made in the present Tazewell County until nearly 
twenty years after Colonel Patton's first visit to Burke's Garden, in 
1748, and Dr. Walker's visit to the coal bearing regions about Poca- 
hontas, in 1750. 

Colonel Thomas L. Preston, in his Reminiscences of an Octo- 
genarian, says, that in 1749 Colonel Patton and William Ingles 
went to Burke's (xarden and located and surveyed land there. This 
statement, I l»elie\e, is incorrect. The records in the Land Office 



arid Southwest Virginia 185 

of Virginia show that Colonel Patton and William Ingles surveyed 
lands in Burke's Garden for Ingles^ acting under the 800,000 acre 
grant to the Loyal Company, in 1753. In the same year they sur- 
veyed tracts for William Ingles on the headwaters of Clinch River 
and on J51uestone Creek in Abb's Valley. The patent for the Abb's 
Valley tract was issued to William Ingles on the 5th of July, 1774, 
and was for 1,000 acres, situated in Abb's Valley on the waters of 
Bluestone Creek, a branch of New River. The patents for the 
boundaries in Burke's Garden and on the branches of Clinch River 
were not issued until November 1783; and were then issued to Wil- 
liam Christian and Daniel Trigg, as Executors of William Ingles, 
deceased. Ingles had not completed his titles to these tracts pre- 
vious to his death, owing to causes that will hereafter be mentioned. 
His executors brought a suit in the District Court of Montgomery 
County to perfect the title of their decedent to various tracts of 
land. The District Court entered a decree in favor of the executors, 
and the case was appealed by the opposing litigant to the Court 
of Appeals of Virginia. On the 2nd day of May, 1783, the Court 
of Appeals entered a decree confirming the decree of the District 
Court, and ordered that patents be issued to William Christian and 
Daniel Trigg, Executors of William Ingles, for two tracts of land, 
one of 345 acres and one of 200 acres, situated in Burke's Garden, 
as per surveys made on April 18th, 1753, under order of Council, 
which gave authority to the Loyal Company to take up and survey 
800,000 acres of land west of the Alleghany Mountains. And 
shortly afterward patents were issued to the said executors of Wil- 
liam Ingles for five tracts of 110 acres, 70 acres, 61 acres, 210 
acres, and 131 acres, respectively, all situated on the headwaters of 
Clinch River. 



186 History of Tazewell County 



CHAPTER III 

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 

In 175'i what is known in history as The French and Indian 
War was begun^ and it was not concluded until the year 1763. It 
was the beginning of the final struggle between France and England 
for supreme control of the North American Continent, The war 
was occasioned bj'^ three distinct causes/ and the first of these was 
the conflicting claims of these two nations for a large part of the 
territory now embraced in the United States. England claimed by 
right of discovery nearly all the territory south of Canada, and 
extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, basing her claim 
upon the discoveries made by Sebastian Cabot. France, however, 
asserted superior title to the territory because she had been the 
first to establish colonies on the St. Lawrence River and its tribu- 
taries. During the latter half of the seventeenth century, France 
had pushed her explorations westward along the shores of the Great 
Lakes to the headwaters of the Wabash, the Illinois, the Wisconsin, 
and St. Croix rivers ; and southward through the Valley of the 
Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. These explorations wei*e begun 
by zealous Jesuit missionaries, for the dual purpose of converting 
the natives to Catholicism and to secure the vast territory as a 
possession of France. Charles Raymbault was the pioneer among 
these Jesuit explorers. He made his way over the waters of Lake 
Huron, and passed through the Straits and explored I^ake Superior 
in 1641. For the succeeding thirty years the Jesuits prosecuted 
their explorations and missionary enterprises with unabated ardor. 
In 1682 Robert de La Salle descended the Mississippi to the Gulf 
of Mexico; and in 1684, he brought a colony from France to Mata- 
gorda Bay and established it in Texas ; and attached that territory 
to the province of Louisiana. By the year 1688 France had planted 
colonies, built forts and placed garrisons in them at Frontenac, at 
Niagara, at the Straits of Mackinaw, and on the Illinois River. 
And by the year 1750 the French had made permanent settlements 
at Detroit, at the mouth of St. Joseph, at Gi*een Bay, at Vincennes, 
at Kaskaskia, at Fort Rosalie, where Natchez is located; and at the 
head of the Bay of Biloxi on the Gulf of Mexico. The English 
Government had not pushed its frontiers beyond the Alleghany 
Mountains, though Governor Spottswood. of Virginia, in 1716 had 



and Southwest Virginia 187 

recommended that the Virginia settlements be advanced to the 
lakes and westward as far as possible, to prevent the French from 
joining the "Dominion of Canada to their new colony of Louisiana." 
All tliat was necessary for France to do to effect the union of her 
Dominion of Canada with her Province of Louisiana was to occupy 
the Ohio Valley. This she was seeking to accomplish, and, in fact, 
was doing when the French and Indian War was precipitated in 
1754. 

The second cause for this war was the long nourished hatred 
between France and England as nations. This bitter animosity 
was the outgrowth of racial antipathies and religious prejudices. 
The French people were of the Gallic race, while the people of 
England were of mingled Teutonic and Celtic blood. France had 
been for many years the leading Catholic country of Europe, and 
England was the first among the Protestant nations. When to 
these racial antipathies and religious prejudices was added intense 
commercial jealousies between the American colonies of the two 
nations, war became inevitable. And when the French began to 
build forts on the disputed territory, and sougJit to monopolize the 
fur trade of the Indians, Great Britain realized that she would 
have to repel the encroachments of her enemy or be forced to con- 
fine her territorial possessions to the country east of the Alleghanies. 
Governor Spottswood had given warning in 1716 that these condi- 
tions would arise, unless Great Britain built forts and established 
settlements west of the Alleghanies, and even on the shores of the 
Great Lakes. 

The third cause of the war was more potent and immediate 
than either of the other two. It was the jealousy that existed 
between the French traders of Canada and the traders from Vir- 
ginia and Pennsylvania, who were competing for the fur trade with 
the Indians on the Ohio River and its tributaries. As has been 
repeatedly stated, Virginia made claim under the charters given by 
James I. to all the territory embraced in the present states of West 
Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and the portions of 
Michigan and Wisconsin that lie east of the Mississippi River. Her 
claim was vindicated by the treaty of Paris in 1763. The French 
traders continued to invade the territory of Virginia and Pennsyl- 
vania. The "Ohio Company" was organized in 1750 for the pur- 
pose of taking possession of a part of the disputed territory, and 
thereby stop the encroachments of P' ranee. This company was com- 
posed of Virginians, among whom were Governor Dinwiddie, Law- 



188 . Histoi-}^ of Tazewell ('ounty 

reiuf ami Augustus Washington, and Thomas Lee, the latltr then 
being president of the Virginia Council. The companj' obtained 
a grant for 500,000 acres of land to be located between the Kanawlia 
and Monongahela Rivers, or on the northern branch of the Ohio 
River. One of tlie provisions of tlie grant was that the lands shouhl 
be rent free for ten years, but requiring the company to settle one 
hundred families thereon in seven Aears. 



In October, 1753, Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, sent George 
Wasliington, then a young surveyor, as a commissioner or messenger 
with a ])rotcst to General St. Pierre, who was commander of tlie 
French forces in the West and was stationed at Erie. This action, 
it is likely, was largely procured by the "Ohio Company," of which 
Dinwiddie and the two Washingtons were conspicuous members. 
The official communication which George Washington bore to St. 
Pierre warned the French autliorities against further intrusions 
upon the territory of Virginia. This mission of the young com- 
missioner was a serious one, and the journey was attended with 
much danger and severe hardships. Washington's party consisted 
of himself and four armed companions and an interpreter; and 
Christopher Gist, agent and explorer of the Ohio Company, acted 
as guide. They traveled up the Potomac and its tributaries, crossed 
the mountains to the headwaters of the Ohio River, and followed 
those streams down to the site of Pittsburgh. Then they proceeded 
to Logstown and held a council with the Indians, who renewed their 
pledges of friendsliip to the English colonists and fidelit}" to the 
British Government. From Logstown the party went to the Frencli 
fort at Venango, and the officers stationed at that post made no 
concealment of the intention of P'rance to unite the Dominion of 
Canada with the Province of Louisiana by taking possession of the 
Ohio and Mississippi valleys. From Venango, Washington traveled 
through the forest to F'ort le Banif, which was situated on French 
Creek, fifty miles above its junction with the Alleghany River. 
There he found St. Pierre engaged in strengthening the fortifica- 
tions. He was received courteously by the French general, but 
the latter declined to enter into any discussion with Washington 
touching the rival claims of the French and English. St. Pierre 
informed W^ashington that he was acting under instructions from the 
governor of New France and would obey Ids orders to the letter, 
A polite reply to Governor Dinwiddie's communication was given 
to W^ashington, in which St. Pierre stated that France claimed title 



and Southwest Virginia 189 

to the Ohio country by virtue of discovery, exploration and occupa- 
tion; and was resolved to maintain its claims by force of arms, if 
necessary. While at Fort le BcEuf, Washington discovered that the 
French had built a fleet of fifty birch-bark canoes and a hundred 
and seventy boats from pine lumber for transporting men and sup- 
plies down the river to the junction of the Alleghany and Monon- 
galiela. The French had recognized the strategic importance of the 
spot where Pittsburgh is now located and had determined to build 
a fort there. 

It was midwinter when Washington, with Christopher Gist as 
his sole companion, started on his return journey to Williamsburg, 
bearing the answer of General St. Pierre to Governor Dinwiddle. 
The perils and sufferings of that journey are familiar to all inter- 
ested readers of Virginia and Colonial history. Garbed in an 
Indian fur robe, with rifle on his shoulder and knapsack on his back, 
the young patriot tramped and struggled through the wilderness, 
enduring sufferings from cold and hunger that it would seem impos- 
sible for any man to withstand ; but Washington arrived at Wil- 
liamsburg in due season and delivered St. Pierre's defiant note to 
Governor Dinwiddle. This was the first public service rendered by 
the future "Father of His Country," and from that time until the 
day of his death Washington became a central figure in the affairs 
of his coimtry. and he still remains the most revered of American 
patriots. 

The Ohio Company, which Iiad earnestly directed tiie attention 
of the British Government to the French invasion of tlie Oiiio 
regions, in the winter of 1 75^-51' organized a company of thirty- 
three men and placed it under command of a man by the name of 
Trent, with orders to proceed as quickly as possible to the source 
of the Ohio River and build a fort there. This company marched 
as instructed, and in March, 1754, arrived at the confluence of the 
Alleghany and Monongahela, and built a rude stockade fort on the 
present site of Pittsburgh. As soon as the ice gorges in the river 
were broken up St. Pierre left Venango with his fleet of canoes and 
boats, and swcj^t down the river and forced Trent and his party to 
withdraw from the country. The French cleared away the forest 
and began to build a fort, which later became famous in history as 
Fort Du Quesne. 

In the meantime George Washington had been given a com- 
mission as lieutenant colonel, with authority to raise a regiment of 
volunteers to go to the relief of Trent and his company. He was 



190 History of Tazewell County 

stationed at Alexandria^ but before he could get his regiment 
organized Trent had been forced to surrender on the 17th of April, 
Early in May, 1754, Washington set out from Alexandria, with 
about one hundred and fifty men, to recapture the place surrendered 
by Trent. He was instructed to march to the source of the Ohio, 
to construct a fort, and to drive out all persons who opposed the 
settlement of Englishmen in that region. 

On the 26th of May the small force of Virginians arrived at the 
Great Meadows, about thirty miles south of Pittsburgh. Wash- 
ington built there a stockade, to which he gave the name of Fort 
Necessity. His Indian scouts soon discovered that a company of 
the French was secretly scouting in the vicinity, and Washington 
determined to surprise and capture the party. Two of the Indians 
discovered the French concealed in a rocky ravine. The Virginians, 
with Washington leading them, gun in hand, advanced cautiously 
upon the enemy; but the French became aware of their approach 
and siezed their guns, whereupon Washington gave the command, 
"Fire!" This was the first volley that was fired in the French and 
Indian War, which did not terminate for nine years. Jumonville, 
was in command of the French company, and ten of his men were 
killed and twenty were made prisoners. 

Learning that General De Villiers was marching from P'ort Du 
Quesne with a large force to make an attack upon him, Washington 
fell back to Fort Necessity. On the 3rd of July, De Villiers 
invested and made an attack upon the fort. The French army 
consisted of six hundred men besides a large force of Indian allies; 
but Washington with his gallant little band of Virginians success- 
fully resisted for nine hours the attacking party, though thirty of 
his men were killed and a number wounded. De Villiers on account 
of a shortage of ammunition proposed a parley; and Washington, 
realizing that with his small force he could not hold out much 
longer, accepted the very honorable terms of surrender which were 
proposed by the French commander. On the -ith of July, the gar- 
rison with all their arms, except artillery, and baggage left the fort 
and withdrew from the country. This left the entire Ohio Valley 
in possession of France, and caused great alarm among all the 
Northern colonies as well as in Virginia. 

About this time a congress, to which all the American colonies 
had been requested to send delegates, had assembled at Albany, 
New York, for the purpose of urging concerted action against the 
French and to secure more cordial support from the Indian tribes 



and Southwest Virginia 191 

of New York and Pennsylvania, and, if possible, of the tribes along 
the Ohio. Benjamin Franklin was the leading and guiding spirit 
of this convention. Steps were taken to unite all the English 
colonies into a common government, it being then apparent that 
their future welfare required the formation of a federated form of 
government. Franklin drafted a constitution, wliich, after a mani- 
festation of considerable opposition thereto, was adopted by the 
commissioners in attendance. Copies of the proposed constitution 
were transmitted to each of the colonies for ratification or rej ection ; 
but it was received with great disfavor neax'ly everywhere. The 
copy sent to England for approval was contemptuously rejected, 
the British Board of Trade declaring that the Americans were try- 
ing to establish an independent government of their own. Possibly 
the Board of Trade was not far wrong in that conclusion, as was 
shown by the Revolution which came on about two decades later. 

In the meantime the French were actively occupied in strength- 
ening their fortifications at Crown Point, at Niagara, and at all 
their posts along the lakes and in the Ohio Valley. The British 
Government was at last awakened to the fact that something had 
to be done to stop the aggressions of France, or submit to the loss 
of all English territory west of the Alleghanies. Though there had 
been no declaration of war, England determined to send a large 
army to America to protect her colonies against the continued 
invasions of the French and Indians. General Edward Braddock 
was sent over with six thousand regulars, and the colonies were 
requested to furnish as many volunteers as they could to unite with 
the regular troops for the protection of the frontiers. The ministers 
of France and Great Britain continued negotiations for a peaceful 
solution of the controversy; but Louis XV., King of France, sent 
three thousand splendidly equipped soldiei-s to Canada for rein- 
forcing the army he already had in that province, stationed at 
various forts on the frontier. 

On the 14th of April, 1755, General Braddock held a confer- 
ence at Alexandria, Virginia, for the purpose of forming and out- 
lining a concerted campaign for checking the advances of the French, 
and the recovery of the territory already invaded and possessed by 
the enemy; and it was agreed that there should be no invasion of 
Canada, but that the French should be driven out of the Ohio Val- 
ley and the other territory claimed by England. And it was also 
planned that Lawrence, lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia, should 



192 History of Tazewell County 

cDinpk'tc tlic conquest of that province according to the boundaries 
as claimed by Great Britain. 

Braddoek started out from Alexandria with two thousand Brit- 
ish veterans to recapture fort Du Quesne. At the mouth of Wills' 
Creek^ a tributary of the Potomac^ and where Fort Cumberland was 
built^ he was joined by two companies of volunteers from New York 
and several companies from Virginia. George Washington also 
joined the army at Fort Cumberland, and Braddoek made the young 
Virginian his aid-de-camp. The British general's commission con- 
tained an order which directed that no provincial officer should be 
given any rank while serving with the British army. This prescrip- 
tion was so offensive to the colonial authorities that they declined 
or failed to send the large quotas of troops they could have furnished 
to assist the English forces. George Washington at first declined 
to go with Braddoek in such an inferior capacity, but from purely 
patriotic motives joined him at Fort Cumberland. The stubborn 
and foolhardy British commander refused to accept any advice 
from Washington, or from any of the colonial officers, as to how 
the campaign should be conducted against the French and Indians. 
He persisted in his purpose to fight the Indians according to the 
rules of military art as it was practiced in Europe, and his stub- 
bornness was followed by terrible disaster. 

On the 9th day of June, 1756, Braddock's army was led into 
an ambuscade, and was nearly destroyed by the combined forces of 
the Indians and French. There were six hundred and thirty 
Indians, most of them Shawnee warriors, and two hundred and 
thirty French soldiers in the engagement. British tactics proved 
worse than valueless when matched against the skill and daring of 
the Shawnee warriors in a battle fought in the wilderness. Con- 
fusion first came to the trained English veterans, and this was fol- 
lowed by panic, which turned the battle field into a bloody shambles 
for the British soldiers. Braddoek had five horses sliot under him 
before he received a fatal wound. Of the eighty-two English offi- 
cers, twenty-six were killed and thirty-seven were wounded. Wash- 
ington was the only mounted officer who escajied injury; and he 
liad two horses killed under him, and his coat was pierced by four 
bullets. When Hraddcxk sank to the ground from a bullet wound 
in his right side, Washington rushed to his assistance. Then the 
haughty Hriton turned to the Virginian and inquired: "What sliall 
we do now C!olonel?" Washington promptly replied: "Retreat 
sir — retreat by all means." An order for retreat was then given; 



i 



and Southwest Virginia 193 

and though but about thirty of the Virginians had escaped slaughter, 
under the command of our Washington, they effectively covered the 
retreat of the crushed and ruined army. The French and Indians 
had three officers and thirty men killed and about the same number 
wounded. Of the English army, seven hundred and fourteen men 
of the ranks were killed and wounded. A hasty retreat was made 
by the remnant of Braddock's army to Fort Cumberland, and a few 
days later that place was abandoned and the army marched to 
Philadelphia. 

At the convention held by the governors of the colonies at Alex- 
andria on the 14th of April, 1755, it had been ordered that Governor 
Lawrence should make complete conquest of Nova Scotia, so as to 
settle the boundaries of that province, which had been ceded by 
France to England by the treaty of Utretch, made April 11th, 1713. 
There had been sharp contentions between France and England over 
the boundaries of the ceded province. 

The first permanent settlement made by Frenchmen on the North 
American Continent was established on the southwest coast of 
Nova Scotia, at a harbor which had been called Port Royal by the 
French discoverers. And the whole country thereabout, including 
the surrounding islands, was called Acadia by the founders of the 
settlement. After the cession of the province to England, the name 
of Port Royal was changed to Annapolis, and the name Acadia was 
changed to Nova Scotia. At the time the province was ceded to 
Great Britian the population was estimated at about three thousand, 
and at the outbreak of the French and Indian War their numbers 
had increased to about sixteen thousand. The French inhabitants 
outnumbered the English about three to one. Lawrence, the acting 
British governor, pretended that there was danger of an insurrec- 
tion, as a very large majority of tlie inhabitants of the province 
were French and were dissatisfied with British rule. Bancroft, 
the great American historian, says of these people: 

"Happy in their neutrality, the Acadians formed, as it were, 
one great family. Their morals were of unaffected purity. Love 
was sanctified and calmned by the universal custom of early mar- 
riages. The neighbors of the community would assist the new 
couple to raise their cottage on fertile land, which the wilderness 
freely offered." 

These excellent people were placed at the mercy of their military 
masters, and were denied protection in the civil tribunals. Their 
property was taken without their consent for the public service and 

T.H.— 13 



194 History of Tazewell County 

"they were not to be bargained with for the payment." They were 
required to furnish firewood for their oppressors, with an order 
from the governor: "If they do not do it in proper time, the 
soldiers shall absolutely take their houses for fuel." Their fire- 
arras and boats were taken from them, leaving them without means 
to escape from their oppressors. Orders were given the English 
officers to punish Acadians at discretion, if they behaved amiss; 
and if the troops were insulted they had authority to assault the 
nearest person, whether he be the guilty one or not, taking "an eye 
for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." 

The British officers and men were taught to believe that the 
colonies existed for no other purpose than to be exploited for the 
benefit of the mother country; and they despised the Acadians, 
even though they were an honest, industrious and virtuous people. 
So, Lawrence was given full authority to reduce the French popula- 
tion of Nova Scotia to complete submission; and to assist him in 
the cruel undertaking a British fleet was sent from Boston. 

On the 20th of May, 1755, the fleet, with three thousand troops 
aboard, under the command of General Monkton, sailed from 
Boston for the Bay of Fundy. The 2nd of June the British army 
was landed on the coast of Nova Scotia, and in a campaign of less 
than a month, with a loss of twenty men, the British had brought 
into subjection the whole country east of the St. Croix River. The 
French inhabitants and the garrisons at the two fortified posts 
that France still held in the isthmus which divides Nova Scotia 
from New Brunswick, were taken entirely by surprise, as the hos- 
tile British movement was made before any declaration of war. 
While this atrocious campaign in Nova Scotia was in pi-ogress, 
Bi'addock was marching to his doom on the Monongahela. 

Acadia, peaceful and helpless, had been easily conquered; but 
the French inhabitants outnumbered the English three to one. To 
remove any danger from an insurrection, Governor Lawrence and 
Admiral Boscawen, upon the advice of the chief justice of the 
province, determined to deport the French inhabitants. As a pre- 
liminary to the execution of this great crime, a demand was made 
that the people should take an oath of allegiance which was so 
framed that the French, as faithful Catholics, could not subscribe 
to it. Upon their refusal to take the oath of renunciation, the Eng- 
lish plotters accused the French of treason and made then surrender 
all their firearms and boats. The heavy-hearted people were driven 
from their homes in the villages and hamlets and their houses 



and Southwest Virginia 195 

destroyed by fire. They were forced to assemble in the larger 
towns and when a sufficient number were collected, they were driven 
on shipboard for deportation. Ridpath, writing about this horrible 
transaction, says : 

"The wails of the thousands of bleeding hearts were wafted to 
heaven with the smoke of burning homes. At the village of Grand 
Pre four hundred and eighteen unarmed men were called together 
and shut up in a church. Then came the wives and children, the 
old men and the mothers, the sick and the infirm, to share the com- 
mon fate. The whole company numbered more than nineteen hun- 
dred souls. The poor creatures were driven to the shore, forced 
into the boats at the point of the bayonet, and carried to the vessels 
in the bay. As the moaning fugitives cast a last look at their 
pleasant town, a column of black smoke floating seaward told the 
story of desolation. More than three thousand of the helpless 
Acadians were carried away by the British squadron and scattered, 
helpless, half-starved and dying among the English colonies. The 
history of civilized nations furnishes no parallel to this wanton and 
wicked destruction of an inoffensive colony." 

At the close of the year 1755 the British armies had nothing to 
their credit in the way of success, except the disgraceful conquest 
of Acadia, and a dearly bought victory won by General Johnson 
over General Dieskau near Fort Edward, New York. The years 
1766-57 proved two years of great disaster to the British. In July, 
1756, General Montcalm captured the two forts at the mouth of 
the Oswego River; and the French greatly strengthened their forts 
at Crown Point and Ticonderoga. The only successes won by the 
English were scored by the colonial volunteers, called provincials. 
During the summer the Delawares violated their treaty with the 
colonies, and made vicious attacks upon the settlers in Western 
Pennsylvania. Colonel John Armstrong, with three hundred Penn- 
sylvania volunteers, crossed the Alleghany Mountains, and by a 
twenty days march got to the Indian town called Kittanning, which 
was situated forty-five miles northeast of Pittsburg. Colonel Arm- 
strong was one of the Scotch-Irish immigrants who had come from 
Ulster, and his three hundred men were mostly of the same blood. 
The Pennsylvanians attacked the village at daybreak. Captain 
Jacobs, the Delaware chief, raised the war-whoop and cried: "The 
white men are come, we shall have scalps enough." Jacobs was 
one of the Indians who laid the ambuscade for Braddock's army, 



196 History of Tazewell County 

and a hearty participant in the scalping carnival that followed 
Braddock's defeat. On this occasion there was quite a different 
scene. Jacobs and his entire family and most of his warriors were 
killed and scalped by the white men. The town was burned, but 
the Americans lost sixteen of their good men killed, and a number 
were wounded. Among the wounded were Colonel Armstrong and 
Captain Hugh Mercer. The Pennsylvania county which includes 
the battle field is named Armstrong; and the West Virginia county 
that adjoins Tazewell bears the name of Mercer. 

After the defeat of Braddock, the General Assembly of Virginia 
made an appropriation of money for Colonel George Washington 
and the other officers and the privates of the Virginia volunteers, 
to reward them "for their gallant behavior and losses in the late 
disastrous battle." Colonel Washington was also given command 
of all the forces raised or to be enlisted in Virginia. He selected 
for his field officers, next in rank to himself. Lieutenant Colonel 
Adam Stephens and Major Andrew Lewis. The latter was from 
Augusta County, was one of the Trans-Alleghany pioneers, and 
became eminent as an Indian fighter and officer in the Revolutionary 
War. Washington established his headquarters at Winchester, as 
the Indians and their French allies were making hostile incur- 
sions into the Valley of Virginia, and were spreading consternation 
among the settlers, many of whom were fleeing with their families 
for safety across the Blue Ridge Mountain. 

Washington made a tour of the outposts, from Fort Cumberland 
to Fort Dinwiddle, on Jackson's River; and was satisfied that the 
means he possessed were not sufficient to protect the Valley and 
the outlying settlements against the Indians. He then determined 
to go to Williamsburg and urge that more adequate means be fur- 
nished; but he was recalled after he reached Fredericksburg by an 
announcement that the Indians had renewed their attacks upon 
the settlements. Hurrying back to Winchester he gathered his 
small forces and drove the savages back from the border. In the 
spring of 1756 he went to Williamsburg and induced the General 
Assembly, then in session, to increase his force to fifteen hundred 
men. After accomplishing this, he returned to Winchester and found 
that scouting parties of Indians were massacreing the unprotected 
inhabitants on the border, and were attacking the forts and killing 
some of his best soldiers. Conditions were so deplorable, and the 
number of troops so inadequate for the protection of the settlers, 
that Colonel Washington wrote a letter to Governor Dinwiddle in 



and Southwest Virginia 197 

which he pictured the distressing situation^ and declaring that: 
"The supplicating tears of the women, and moving petitions of the 
men, melt me with deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I 
know my own mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the 
butchering enemy, provided that would contribute to the people's 
ease." The summer and autumn of 1757 were spent by Washington 
in repairing the old forts and in building a new one at Winchester, 
which was named Fort Loudoun. 

The year 1757 proved equally as disastrous for the English as 
had the two preceding years. At the close of the year it looked as 
if the British would be driven out of America, or, at least, be forced 
to confine themselves to the regions they had so long occupied east 
of the Alleghanies. France was in possession of twenty times as 
much American territory as England, and every English settler 
had been driven from the Ohio Valley. But a great change in the 
situation came in 1758. William Pitt, the first Englishman to be 
called the "Great Commoner," was placed at the head of the min- 
istry; and the disgraceful mismanagement of English affairs in 
America was brought to an end. General Ambercrombie superseded 
the incapable Lord Loudoun as commander-in-chief; and Admiral 
Boscawen was put in charge of a splendid fleet of twenty-two ships 
of the line and fifteen frigates. Able generals and a corps of cap- 
able subordinate officers were given the commander-in-chief. Among 
these were Generals Amherst, Howe, Forbes, and Wolfe, and 
Colonel Richard Montgomery. The latter was the favorite officer 
in the brigade of the gallant General James Wolfe, and was with 
him when he captured Quebec from the French on the 13th of Sep- 
tember, 1759, and when he received a mortal wound on the Heights 
of Abraham. It was a strange decree of fate which placed Colonel 
Montgomery in command of a Colonial army with which he sought 
to captui'e Quebec from the British on December 31st, 1775; and 
that he should receive a mortal wound, while leading his troops, 
not far from where Wolfe was killed sixteen years previously. 

The war was pressed with vigor during the years 1758 and 1759. 
Louisburg was captured by General Wolfe on the 28th of July, 
1758, and soon thereafter Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island 
were surrendered to Great Britain. General Ambercrombie made 
an ineffectual eff"ort to take Ticonderoga on the 6th of July. On 
the 8th the English army made another assault, a bloody battle 
ensued, and the carnage was dreadful, the British losing in killed 
and wounded nineteen hundred and sixteen men. General Mont- 



198 History of Tazewell County 

calm was in command of tlie four thousand French, and it was due to 
his skillful and energetic management that the English lost the bat- 
tle. A short time after the defeat at Ticonderoga, Colonel Brad- 
street captured Frontenac after a two days siege, which compen- 
sated for the failure to capture Ticonderoga. 

Later in the summer General Forbes left Philadelphia with an 
army of nine thousand men and moved slowly and cautiously in the 
direction of Fort Du Quesne. Washington was in command of the 
provincials, and Colonel Armstrong, already famous from his victory 
over the Indians at Kittanning, commanded the Pennsylvanians. 
On the 24th of November, Washington, who was in charge of the 
advance troops, arrived within ten miles of Fort Du Quesne. The 
French garrison, which numbered only about five hundred men, 
abandoned and destroyed the fort and made their retreat in their 
canoes and boats down the river. It was on the following day, 
November 25th, 1758, that the English flag was raised again on 
the noted spot and the name Pittsburg given thereto in honor of 
the "Great Commoner," who had restored the prestige of England 
in America. Thus was wrested from the French what has since 
been known as "the gateway of the west." 

For the campaign of the next year. General Amherst was placed 
in full command of the American forces. Parliament voted twelve 
million pounds for its conduct, and the colonies cheerfully joined 
the British Government to raise an army of fifty thousand men. 

On the 25th of July, 1759, the French surrendered Niagara to 
Sir William Johnson, and communication between Canada and 
Louisiana was completely broken. The 26th day of July the French 
garrison abandoned Ticonderoga and retreated to Crown Point; and 
five days afterward they deserted that place. General Wolfe gave 
the final blow to the power of France in Canada on the 12th of 
September, when he successfully attacked Quebec, though he lost 
his life in that supreme effort. Montcalm, the gallant French com- 
mander, was also mortally wounded in the battle, and when told 
that he could live but a few hours, said: "So much the better; I 
shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." The citadel was 
surrendered to General Townshend on the 17th of September, 1769. 

In the spring of 1760 France made the last great struggle to 
regain her power in Canada. A few miles west of Quebec the 
French and English met in a severe battle and tlie English were 
forced to retire into the city ; but reinforcements were sent to the 
British and the French were driven back. On the 8th of September, 



and Southwest Virginia 199 

1760 Montreal, which was the only strong post still held by France 
in the St. Lawrence Valley, was surrendered to General Amherst. 
At the time of the surrender of Montreal it had been stipulated that 
the number of small posts held by the French in the vast territory 
bordering on the Great Lakes should be turned over to Great 
Britain. And in the fall of 1760, General Amherst sent Major 
Robert Rogers with two hundred provincial rangers to receive 
these outposts from the several French commanders. In November, 
Major Rogers reached Detroit, the fort was surrendered to him, 
and he raised the English flag over the fortress, where it continued 
to float to the breeze until it was hauled down to make place for 
our own great emblem of freedom, the Stars and Stripes. Then 
Fort Miami on the southern shore of Lake Michigan, and Fort 
Onatanon on the Wabash were surrendered to Major Rogers. It 
was his purpose to travel on and take possession of the forts at 
Mackinaw, Green Bay and St. Marie, but severe storms prevented 
him from doing this; and those remote forts were not garrisoned 
with English soldiers until the summer of 1761. 



The fall of Montreal and the subsequent surrender of the French 
forts placed Great Britain in complete possession of all the disputed 
territory which had provoked the French and Indian War. While 
this war was in progress the French, by very kind and considerate 
treatment, had won the friendship and confidence of their Indian 
allies; and the hatred of the red men for the English had been 
greatly intensified. The Indians still believed that France would 
reconquer the country and expel the detested English; and, so 
believing, the native tribes continued to make attacks upon the 
frontier settlements. In the summer of 1761 the Senecas and 
Wyandots joined in a conspiracy to capture Detroit and massacre 
the English garrison; but Colonel Campbell, commander of the post, 
got information of the conspiracy and thwarted the attack. The 
following summer a similar plot was formed, but it was defeated 
by the alert English officers. 

In the spring of 1763, Pontiac, who was chief of the Ottowas, 
and who led his warriors at Braddock's defeat, conceived a plan for 
uniting all the tribes between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi 
River, to make concerted attacks upon all the forts in the possession 
of the English, and overwhelm their garrisons. This noted chief 
had met Major Robert Rogers, when he was on his way to take 



200 History of Tazewell County 

possession of Detroit for the British, at the place where Cleveland, 
Ohio, is now located; and had made objection to further invasion 
of the territory by the English. But when he was informed that 
the French had been defeated and had surrendered all their forts 
in Canada, he consented to the surrender of Detroit, and for a time 
was disposed to be friendly to the British. Later he was deceived 
by rumors that France was preparing to make a reconquest of her 
American possessions, and proceeded to carry out his plans for a 
general uprising of the Indians and the destruction of the English 
forts and settlements. 

The 7th of May, 1761, was the day selected for the general 
uprising and for the beginning of what is known in history as 
Pontiac's War. Pontiac was to make an attack upon Detroit, 
the capture of that place being considered the most difficult task of 
the Indians' scheme. An Indian girl, who was deeply infatuated 
with an English officer at the post, the day before the uprising 
visited the fort and revealed the plot to Major Gladwyn, the com- 
mandant. When Pontiac's warriors the following day attempted by 
treachery to accomplish their design, they found all the soldiers and 
the citizens under arms and fully prepared to repel any onslaught. 
A protracted siege followed, but finally had to be abandoned. 

At other points the Indians were more successful in the execution 
of their scheme. On the 16th of May, a band of the Wyandots 
captured Fort Sandusky, killed all the garrison and burned the fort. 
A few days later Fort St. Joseph experienced a similar fate at the 
hands of a number of the Pottawotamie tribe. This was followed 
by the capture of Fort Mackinaw and nearly all of its defenders 
were cruelly butchered by the savages. The Indians continued their 
operations against the forts and settlements imtil the middle of the 
summer, by which time they had taken every fort held by the British, 
except Detroit, Fort Pitt, and Niagara. 



For the three years succeeding the surrender of Montreal to the 
British the war between France and England was continued on the 
seas, with the British fleets victorious in nearly every engagement. 
France was so reduced in men and resources that she was forced 
to come to very humiliating terms; and on the 10th of February, 
1763, a treaty of peace was negotiated at Paris between the bellig- 
erent nations. By this treaty France surrendered to Great Britain 
all of the territory claimed by the French east of the Mississippi, 



and Southwest Virginia 201 

from its source to the river Iberville, and thence through Lakes 
Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico. In the same 
treaty Spain, with .whom England had also been engaged in war, 
ceded East and West Florida to Great Britain; and, in lieu of this 
cession, France was forced to cede to Spain all of that extensive 
and magnificent territory west of the Mississippi, then known as 
the Province of Louisiana. Thus was France deprived of all her 
possessions in the New World ; and thus was concluded one of the 
most important wars in the world's history. 

The French and Indian War is worthy of much consideration 
and study by all persons who are interested in the formation and 
development of our splendid American Republic. This war not 
only caused extensive and important changes in the map of the 
world, but exercised a mighty influence upon its social, political 
economic, and religious thought. During its progress a momentous 
struggle was going on in Europe between the Protestant and Cath- 
olic monarchs. Frederick the Great, of Prussia, was standing almost 
alone as the defender of Protestanism against the combined forces 
of France, Austria, Bavaria, and the other Catholic countries of the 
Continent. Bancroft says: "Among the rulers of the European 
Continent, Frederick, with but four millions of subjects, stood forth 
alone, 'the unshaken bulwark of Protestantism and freedom of 
thought.' " It is known that after George Washington's withdrawal 
from the service of Great Britain in 1761, in his retirement at Mount 
Vernon, he kept in his library a bust of Frederick, whose devoted 
struggles for political and religious freedom he watched with the 
keenest interest and profoundest sympathy. And up in New Eng- 
land, the stern Calvinists were constantly sending up petitions to 
Almighty God for the success and preservation of the King of 
Prussia in his heroic struggle against the Papacy. 

To the Americans this war was one of vital import, in that it 
directed the attention of the colonies to the fact that, if they became 
united in sympathy and purpose, they need be no longer dependent 
upon Great Britain for protection against either domestic or foreign 
foes. Could the mother country have foreseen that the first volley 
fired in the war, at the command of George Washington, was the 
beginning of a revolution in American thought and purpose, which 
in a few years would constrain the colonies to proclaim their inde- 
pendence, England would not have been so eager to expel the French 
and Spaniards from the North American Continent. 

In 1742, Baron Montesquieu, the distinguished French jurist 



202 History of Tazewell County 

and philosopher, gave notice to the intellectual world that "a free, 
prosperous and great people was forming in the forests of America, 
which England had sent forth her sons to inhabit." Jaques Turgot, 
a distinguished son of France, when only twenty-three years old, 
in 1750, made accurate prophesy as to what would transpire in 
America before the close of the eighteenth century, when he ex- 
claimed to the assembled clergy of France: "Vast regions of 
America ! Equality keeps from them both luxury and want, and 
preserves to them purity and simplicity with freedom. Europe 
herself will find there the perfection of her political societies, and 
the surest support of her well being. Colonies are like fruits, which 
cling to the tree only till they ripen: Carthage declared itself free 
as soon as it could take care of itself ; so likewise will America." 

Ample warning was given by other great men as to what results 
would follow the French and Indian War. Just at the beginning 
of the struggle, David Hume, England's "great master of historic 
style," and who exposed "the hollowness of the prevailing systems 
of thought in Europe," speaking of America, said: "The seeds of 
many a noble state have been sown in climates kept desolate by the 
wild manners of the ancient inhabitants, and an asylum is secured 
in that solitary world for liberty and science." 

In 1760 an interesting interview took place between Lord Cam- 
den, attorney general for Great Britain, and Benjamin Franklin, 
who was visiting England in the interest of the colonies. Camden 
observed: "For all what Americans say of your loyalt}', and not- 
withstanding your boasted affection, you will one day set up for 
independence." To this Dr. Franklin replied: "No such idea is 
entertained by the Americans, or ever will be, unless you grossly 
abuse them." Camden promptly rejoined: "Very true; that I see 
will happen, and will produce the event." 

Dr. Franklin was loyal to the mother country, just as he was 
true to everything he ever espoused, but he spake truly when he 
gave notice that he and his fellow-Americans would not submit to 
further gross oppressions from the British Government. And Lord 
Camden was equally as sincere when he announced his conviction 
that such abuses would come during the reign of George III. ; and 
that the American colonies would declare and win their independ- 
ence. Just after the treaty of peace was made at Paris, in 1763, 
Vergennes, the French ambassador at Constantinople, declared: 
"The consequences of the entire cession of Canada are obvious. I 
am persuaded England will ere long repent of having removed the 



and Southwest Virginia 203 

only check that could keep her colonies in awe. They stand no 
longer in need of her protection; she will call on them to contri- 
bute towards supporting the burdens they have helped bring on her ; 
and they will answer by striking off all dependence." 

The French and Indian War was an important event for the 
Americans, in that it was a training school for a number of the men 
who became famous as leaders and officers of the armies that won 
independence for the colonies. It also prepared a number for direct- 
ing the civil affairs of the United Colonies when the struggle for 
escape from British misrule was inaugurated. George Washington, 
Horatio Gates, Andrew Lewis and Daniel Morgan, from Virginia; 
and John Armstrong and Hugh Mercer from Pennsylvania, were 
with Braddock when he met defeat and death on the Monongahela. 
The Virginia and Pennsylvania volunteers, under the leadership of 
Washington and Armstrong, saved the panic-stricken army from 
total annihilation by the blood-thirty Indians. Israel Putman, of 
Connecticut, John Stark, of New Hampshire, and Philip Schuyler, 
of New York, were equally as conspicuous and useful in the cam- 
paigns conducted by the British armies in Western New York and 
in Canada. And Francis Marion and William Moultrie, two of the 
most gallant and efficient generals of the Revolutionary War, were 
with Colonels Grant and Montgomery when those British officers 
made their invasions of the Cherokee country to bring the Cherokees 
into submission. These noble patriots and splendid military leaders 
of the Revolution were products of the French and Indian War. 
It made them familiar with the tactics and fighting qualities of the 
British armies; and acquainted them with the methods of the 
Indians who were the allies of Great Britain. 



204 History of Tazewell County 

CHAPTER IV 

draper's meadows massacre and other tragic incidents. 

To the i^ioneer settlers who liad already crossed the Alleghanies 
to build homes, and secure for themselves and their children per- 
sonal and religious freedom, the French and Indian War was a 
fearful tragedy. Its effect upon them was more immediate and tell- 
ing than it was ujDon the older settlements of the colonies, or the 
powerful European nations that engaged in the war from a desire 
of conquest and commercial supremacy in North America. For 
them it introduced the brutal practice of paying a price for each 
scalp of a white person who was butchered by the Indians. The 
red men had previously taken the scalps of their dead foes to keep 
and exhibit as an isig-nia of valor; but in this cruel war the French 
paid their savage allies so much for each English scalp they brought 
in; and the savages reaped a rich harvest from the battle field where 
Braddock's army was beaten. This caused the British to offer their 
savage allies a reward for each scalp of their Indian foes that was 
secured. Perhaps the English were justified in making this cruel 
reprisal, but they did not stop there in the brutal practice. In the 
Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the British Government 
paid their Indians so many shillings for each scalp they secured 
from the heads of Americans. 

For sometime previous to the commencement of the war, the 
French and English had been actively competing for the support of 
the Shawnees and other tribes that inhabited the Ohio Valley. 
When the Ohio Company sent Christopher Gist on an exploring 
expedition to the Ohio country in 1750, he was not only instructed 
to "examine the western country as far as the falls of the Ohio; to 
look for a large tract of level land; to mark the passes in the 
mountains; to trace the courses of the rivers;" but he was specially 
directed to ascertain the strengtli and numbers of tlie Indians and 
to secure tlieir friendship for the English. In obedience to these 
instructions, he crossed the Alleghanies and first visited a small town 
of friendly Delawares on the east side of the Ohio; and then crossed 
the river and traveled down to Logstown. It was then occupied by 
a mixed band of Senecas, Mohicans, Ottawas, and others, with nearly 
a hundred cabins. These Indians had become very jealous of the 
known purposes of the Ohio Company, and told Gist: "You have 



and Southwest Virginia 205 

come to settle on the Indian lands : You shall never go home safe/' 
though they treated him respectfully as an accredited messenger 
of the English King. Nothing daunted by this manifestation of 
anger, Gist traveled on to a village of the Ottawas on Elk's Eye 
Creek, and found its people warm friends of the French. He then 
visited the town of the Wyandots at Muskingam and found its hun- 
dred families about equally divided in sympathy for the French 
and English. Those who were friends of the English said to Gist: 
"Come and live with us ; bring great guns and make a fort. If the 
French claim the branches of the lakes, those of the Ohio belong 
to us and our brothers, the English." 

The Shawnees were then located on both sides of the Ohio just 
below the mouth of the Scioto. When Gist arrived at their towns 
they made earnest professions of friendship for the Virginians, and 
expressed deep gratitude for the protection that had been given 
them by the English against attacks from the Six Nations. After 
leaving the Shawnee towns, the English envoys next visited the 
Miamis at their towns on the Miami River. The Miamis were an 
Algonquian tribe and had the largest and most powerful confederacy 
in the west. The Virginians and Pennsylvanians were the first 
white men of the English race to see the splendid country beyond 
the Scioto. They found the land rich and level, with alternating 
stretches of magnificent forests of walnut, maple, wild cherry and 
ash, and beautiful praries carpeted with wild rye, blue grass, and 
white clover; and fine herds of deer, elk and buffalo grazing thereon. 
It was the very kind of country Gist had been directed to search for. 
and he and his companions rapturously declared that: "nothing is 
wanting but cultivation to make this a most delightful country." 

Christopher Gist and his company remained some days with the 
various tribes of the Miami Confederacy; and, then, on the 1st day 
of March, 1751, started for Kentucky, with assurance from the 
Miamis that they would make no terms with the French, and bearing 
to the English authorities the message: "Our friendship shall 
stand like the loftiest mountains." The shrewd agent of the Ohio 
Company had made arrangements for all the friendly tribes of the 
West to meet the following summer at Logstown to make a treaty 
with Virginia. After leaving the Miami towns he descended the 
Little Miami River and crossed the Ohio into Kentucky at a point 
about fifteen miles above where Louisville is now situated. Thence, 
as hereinbefore related, he traveled through Kentucky and South- 



206 History of Tazewell County 

west Virginia, and on to Williamsburg, where he made report of 
the accomplishments of the expedition to Governor Dinwiddie and 
the other members of the Ohio Company. 

The following year the Ohio Company, with the approval of 
the General Assembly of Virginia, determined to place a settlement 
beyond the Alleghany Mountains ; and Christopher Gist was sent 
out by the company to explore the lands southeast of the Ohio, as 
far as the Kanawha. He found that the Indians had become very 
suspicious of the intentions of both the French and the English. 
The natives had begun to realize that the two great European 
nations, while each was professing great regard for the Indians, 
were about to engage in a mighty struggle for permanent possession 
of an extensive and valuable territory to which neither had any 
just claim of ownership. It had become very evident that France 
and Great Britain were both maneuvering to get the assistance of 
the simple natives in a war which was bound to result in robbing the 
Indians of their lands, no matter whether the French or English 
were victors. Therefore it is not surprising that a Delaware chief 
said to Christopher Gist: "Where lie the lands of the Indians,^ 
The French claim all on one side of the river and the English on 
the other." And about the same time another chief, the Half-King, 
declared: "We see and know that the French design to cheat us 
out of our lands. We, therefore, desire our brothers of Virginia 
may build a strong house at the fork of Monongahela." 

The Ohio Company in 1753 built a road by way of Wills Creek 
into the western valley; and Gist established a settlement with 
eleven families. He marked out sites for a town and a fort on 
Shurtees Creek; but the British Government gave no protection to 
the little colony, and the settlers were forced to flee from the 
Indians and French in a very short time. 

In the meantime, while the Virginians and Pennsylvanias were 
negotiating with the Indians for the peaceful occupation of the 
country both north and south of the Ohio, the French pushed on 
down from the lakes and took possession of the entire region. 
DuQuesne sent twelve hundred men to occupy the valley of the 
Ohio. The Delawares, Shawnees, and Mingoes met in coiuicil at 
Logstown, and started an envoy to Montreal to protest against the 
invasion of their country by an armed force, but he was turned back 
at Niagara by the French, who told him it was useless to proceed 
to Montreal. 



and Southwest Virginia 207 

draper's meadows massacre. 

By shrewd management, with bribes, threats, and promises of 
protecting them in the possession of their lands, the French secured 
as their allies nearly all of the Indian tribes that were then occupy- 
ing the Ohio Valley. They proved very efficient and faithful allies ; 
and were a potential factor in winning the French victory over 
Braddock. From the date of that disaster to the British arms, the 
Indians began to send marauding parties to attack the settlers in 
the Valley of Virginia, the Upper James Valley, the Roanoke Val- 
ley, and the few settlements that had been made west of the Alle- 
ghanies in what is now known as Southwest Virginia. In fact 
the scheme of terrorizing the Virginia frontiers with scalping par- 
ties was put in motion previous to Braddock's defeat. The first 
blow that fell upon the pioneers of Southwest Virginia was the 
attack made by a band of Shawnees on the settlement at Draper's 
Meadows, at the present site of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 
at Blacksburg. This settlement, as previously related, was started 
in 1748. Dr. John P. Hale, who was a descendant of Mrs. William 
Ingles, one of the victims of that horrible tragedy, has given a 
concise and authentic narrative of the incident in his book, the 
"Trans-Alleghany Pioneers." He thus relates the story as told to 
him by his ancestors : 

"On the 8th of July, 1755, being Sunday, and the day before 
Braddock's memorable defeat, near Fort DuQuesne, when all was 
peace, and there was no suspicion of harm or danger, a party of 
Shawnees from beyond the Ohio, fell upon the Draper's Meadows 
settlement and killed, wounded or captured every soul there 
present, as follows: 

"Colonel James Patton, Mrs. George Draper, Casper Barrier 
and a child of John Draper, killed; Mrs. John Draper and James 
Cull, wounded; Mrs. William Ingles, Mrs. John Draper, Henry 
Lenard, prisoners. 

"Mrs. Draper, being out of doors, a short distance from the 
house first discovered the enemy approaching, and under circum- 
stances indicating hostile intent. 

"She ran into the house to give the alarm and to get her sleeping 
infant. Taking the child in her arms she ran out on the opposite 
side of the house and tried to make her escape. The Indians dis- 
covered her, however, and fired on her as she ran, breaking her right 
arm and causing the child to fall. She hastily picked it up again 



208 History of Tazewell County 

with her left hand, and continued her flight. She was soon over^ 
taken, however, and made a prisoner, and the child brained against 
one of the house logs. The other Indians, meanwhile, were devot- 
ing their attention to other members of the families and camp, with 
the results in killed, wounded, and captured, as above stated. 

"Colonel James Patton, who had large landed interests hereabout, 
was here at this time and with him his nephew, William Preston. 

"Whether Colonel Patton was only temporarily here, or was 
then making this his home, I do not know. He had command of the 
Virginia Militia in this region, and had just bought up a supply of 
powder and lead for use of the settlements, which, I believe, the 
Indians secured. 

"Early on the morning of the attack. Colonel Patton had sent 
young Preston over to the house of Mr. Philip Lybrook, on Sinking 
Creek, to get him to come over and lielp next day with the harvest, 
which was ready to be cut, and this fortunate absence doubtless 
saved young Preston's life. 

"Colonel Patton was sitting at a table writing when the attack 
was made, with his broadsword, which he always kept with him, 
lying on the table before him. He was a man of large frame (he 
was six feet four inches in height), and herculean strength. He cut 
down two of the Indians with his sword, as they rushed upon him, 
but was, in turn, shot down himself by others out of his reach. He 
was a widower, sixty-three years of age, and full of health and vigor 
when he met his untimely death." 

When the attack was made William Ingles was in a grain field 
some distance from the house, possibly in the field from which the 
grain was to be harvested the next day. As soon as he saw the 
smoke and flames of the buildings, which the Indians had set fire 
to, he apprehended that something serious had happened, and ran 
rapidly to the aid of his family. He saw the large number of 
Indians and realized that it was folly for him, unarmed as he was, 
to ofifer resistance, and turned to make his escape; but lie had been 
seen by the Indians and was pursued by two of the warriors. They 
failed, liowever, to capture him; and he and John Draper, who was 
from home when the massacre occurred, went to the settlements 
farther east to get assistance. 

Mrs. Ingles had two small sons, Thomas, who was four years 
old, and George, three years old, who were also captured. Dr. Hale 
failed to mention the boys in the above list of captives, but refers to 



and Southwest Virginia 209 

them frequently as he proceeds with his narrative. The Indians 
collected much valuable booty — guns, ammunition, and household 
goods. These things were packed on some of the horses of the set- 
tlers, and the women and children were placed on other horses; 
and the march was then started for the Indian towns. Dr. Hale 
says: 

"About half a mile or mile to the west, on their route, they 
stopped at the house of Mr. Philip Barger, an old and white haired 
man, cut his head off, put it in a bag, and took it with them to the 
house of Philip Lybrook, on Sinking Creek, where they left it, 
telling Mrs. Lybrook to look in the bag and she would find an 
acquaintance." 

It seems that Pliilip Lybrook and William Preston had left 
Lybrook's house, and had taken what was called a "near cut" across 
the mountains for Draper's Meadows, to help in the harvest field 
the next day. This saved them from encountering the Indians, and, 
no doubt, preserved their lives. There is no record of the route fol- 
lowed by the Indians and their captives, but it is evident that they 
traveled down New River, as far as the mouth of Indian Creek. 
There they crossed the river and followed it to the mouth of Blue- 
stone, passed up that stream a short distance, then proceeded along 
the route of what afterwards was known as the Giles, Raleigh and 
Fayette Turnpike to the head of Paint Creek. This stream was fol- 
lowed to the Kanawha River which they crossed to the northeast 
side, possibly at Witcher's Creek Shoals. 

Dr. Hale says that: "On the night of the third day out, the 
course of nature, which waits not upon conveniences nor surround- 
ings, was fulfilled, and Mrs. Ingles, far from human habitation, in 
the wide forest, unbounded by walls, with only the bosom of mother 
earth for a couch, and covered by the green trees and the canopy 
of heaven, with a curtain of darkness around her, gave birth to an 
infant daughter. * * * Owing to her perfect physical consti- 
tution, health and training, she was next morning able to travel, 
and did resume the journey, carrying the little stranger in her arms, 
on horseback." 

Upon arrival at the salt spring, just above the mouth of Camp- 
bell's Creek, the Indians made a halt of several days to get a supply 
of game and salt to take to their towns. The pots and kettles that 
were taken from the houses of the captives were used for boiling 

the salt water. Mrs. Ingles and the other prisoners did the salt 
T.H.— 14 



210 History of Tazewell County 

making while the Indians were hunting and killing the fine game 
that came to the "Lick" for salt. 

After resting and hunting several days at the salt spring, the 
Indians and their captives resumed their journey; and about one 
month after the Draper's Meadow massacre the party reached the 
Shawnee town at the mouth of the Scioto River. The marauders 
were received with much glee by all the members of the tribe, 
and delight was expressed at the success of the bloody enterprise. 
All the captives, except Mrs. Ingles and her children, were required 
to "rim the gauntlet." It seems that she had, by tact and intelligent 
service, secured the good will of her captors. Mrs. Draper, though 
still suffering from the wound in her arm, was made to endure the 
agony of the terrible ordeal, as did Henry Lenard and James Cull, 
the two men captured at Draper's Meadows. It is more than prob- 
able that these men were killed while passing through the ordeal, 
as there is no known record of them after the event. A few days 
afterward, the Indians raiders met for a division and distribution 
of the spoils, including the captives. The prisoners were alloted 
to different persons and became widely separated. Mrs. Ingles 
and her infant remained at the Shawnee town, while her little sons, 
Thomas and George, were taken to Detroit. George died a short 
time after he arrived at that place, and Thomas remained with the 
Indians for thirteen years, when he was at last found by his father 
and ransomed. As Thomas Ingles was a prominent figure in the 
pioneer settlement of Tazewell County his interesting life will be 
given more ample notice in connection therewith. 

Mrs. Draper was taken to Chillicothc. where she was adopted 
into the family of an old chief; and after six years of captivity 
was ransomed by her husband, John Draper, and brought back to 
her home on New River. She was kindly treated until she made 
an unsuccessful attempt to escape, which provoked for her the usual 
penalty, burning at the stake; but the old Indian, of whose family 
she had become a member, concealed her until he secured her pardon. 
Resigning herself to her cruel fate, she resolved to win the confidence 
and favor of the tribe. She taught the women to sew and cook, 
and nursed the sick and wounded so tenderly that the Indians pro- 
nounced her a "heap good medicine squaw." John Draper had been 
unwearied in his efforts to find and secure the release of his wife 
from captivity, but failed in every attempt to locate her, until 1761. 
In that year a treaty was made between the Indians and the whites 
and Mr. Draper attended the assembly with the hope of getting some 



and Southwest Virginia 211 

information about his wife. The old Indian chief in whose family 
she was living was at the meeting, and Draper was at last rewarded 
with success in his search for his absent wife. A heavy ransom 
was demanded and paid, and husband and wife were happily 
reunited after a separation of six years. They returned to their 
home at Draper's Meadows, but in 1765 Mr. Draper exchanged his 
land at Draper's Meadows for a splendid boundary west of New 
River in the present county of Pulaski, to which place he moved, 
giving it the name of "Draper's Valley." A part of this land is 
still owned and occupied by Draper's descendants. Seven children 
were born to John and Betty Draper after she was rescued from 
captivity. Mrs. Draper died in 1774, the year of Dunmore's War, 
and John Draper two years afterwards married Mrs. Jane Crockett, 
a widow, by whom he had two daughters. He was a lieutenant in 
Dunmore's War and did gallant service at the battle of Point 
Pleasant. 



In a little while after the division and separation of the Draper's 
Meadows captives, a party of Shawnee Indians and several French 
traders went to Big Bone Lick, which is about one hundred and 
fifty miles below the mouth of the Scioto River, in the present 
Boone County, Kentucky. The object of the Indians was to make 
salt and to hunt the big game that came to the Lick, while the 
French were along to buy pelts from the redskins. Remembering 
the efficiency Mrs. Ingles had shown as a salt maker at the salt 
spring on the Kanawha, the Indians took her with them to assist 
in the work. They also took along a Dutch woman, who was 
named Stump, whom they had captured in Pennsylvania near Fort 
Du Quesne. Mrs. Ingles, after much persuasion, gained the con- 
sent of the Dutch woman to join her in an attempt to escape and 
return, if possible, to their respective homes. The unhappy woman 
knew that if she made the desperate venture she would have to leave 
her infant daughter with the Indians; and that meant a sacrifice 
of her child, either by cruel death or permanent separation from 
it. But she realized that her first duty was to her husband and an 
effort to recover her little boys from captivity. So, she decided 
to abandoned her child. After placing "the dear little babe as 
cosily as she could in a little bark cradle, gave it her last parting 
kisses and baptism of tears, tore herself away, and was gone, never 
to see it again in this world." 



212 History of Tazewell County 

The two women started late in the afternoon on their long and 
perilous journey. They each had a blanket and a tomahawk, but 
no food or clothing except the scanty apparel they were wearing. 
With no roads to follow and without compass, they concluded to 
make their way to the Ohio and follow that stream up to the mouth 
of the Kanawha; and then journey up that river until they arrived 
at a point near Draper's Meadows. The route as mapped out was 
followed pretty closely, though it was rugged and wild, and many 
severe hardships were encountered. For the forty days that were 
occupied in making the journey, they had no food but nuts and 
berries, and a little raw corn. And they had no shelter at night 
but caves, hollow logs and an occasional deserted Indian camp. 

Exposed to dangers innumerable and suffering from hunger 
almost intolerable, Mrs. Ingles was at last forced to desert Mrs. 
Stump, because the old Dutch woman was so crazed by starvation 
that she tried to kill her companion to appease her hunger. This 
occurred when they reached a point whei*e East River flows into 
New River. Mrs. Ingles sought to divert the old woman from her 
murderous intention by proposing that they should draw lots as to 
which should die, and Mrs. Ingles lost in the drawing. Then began 
a life and death struggle between the two. Mrs. Ingles succeeded in 
tearing herself from the grasp of the old woman, wlio had become 
exhausted by the struggle, and stai-ted again up the river. When 
she got beyond the vision of the poor old creature she concealed 
herself under the bank of the river until her dangerous companion 
passed by. , She remained in hiding imtil night came on. The moon 
was shining, and she fortunately discovered an old canoe on the river 
bank. It was half filled with leaves and had no oar or paddle. But 
the resolute young woman, who had never handled a canoe, resolved 
to cross the river in the frail boat and ;;;iirsue her journey on the 
east side of the stream, and thus avoid further danger from Mrs. 
Stump. She found a slab that had been torn from a tree by light- 
ning, and using this slab for a paddle she reached the eastern shore 
of New River in safety. The following morning Mrs. Ingles 
resumed her journey, and after traveling a short distance saw the 
old Dutch woman on tlie opposite side of the river. They were 
near enough to each other to have a conversation ; and the old woman 
expressed great sorrow for her action the previous day. She plead 
with Mrs. Ingles to cross the river and continue the journey with 
her; but the young woman declined, and they continued and com- 
pleted their journey on opposite sides of the stream. 



and Southwest Virginia 213 

Mrs. Ingles was now within tliirty miles of Draper's Meadows, 
but was so exhausted from hunger and exposure that she began 
to despair of ever reaching her desired destination. At many points 
on the eastern shore of New River the cliffs project very closely 
to the edge of the water, and it was with great difficulty that she 
passed along the rocky shore. Struggling on, she at last reached 
the immense cliff just below Eggleston's Springs. This cliff pro- 
jects out to and overhangs the river, and is 280 feet high at the 
highest point. There are no shelving rocks for footholds along the 
base of the cliff, and Mrs. Ingles was unable to pass around it 
as she had the cliffs further down the river. There was snow on 
the ground and the water was icy cold, but the brave woman tried to 
wade around at the base of the cliff. The water is very deep up to 
the cliff's edge, and could not be waded. She had to pass the night 
on the bare ground, shivering and hungry. The following morning, 
with almost superhuman effort, she climbed over the giant cliff. 
It took her all day to accomplish what proved to be her final mighty 
struggle to reach her husband and home. Dr. Hale thus relates 
what immediately followed the scaling of the cliff. 

"Mrs. Ingles, after getting to the bottom of the cliff, had gone 
but a short distance when, to her joyful surprise, she discovered just 
before lier, a patch of corn. She approached it as rapidly as she 
could move her painful limbs along. 

"She saw no one, but there were evident signs of persons about. 
She hallooed ; at first there was no response, but relief was near at 
hand. She was about to be saved, and just in time. 

"She had been heard by Adam Harmon and his two sons, whose 
patch it was, and who were in it gathering their corn. 

"Suspecting, upon hearing a voice, that there might be an 
intended attack by Indians, they grabbed their rifles, always kept 
close at hand, and listened attentively. 

"Mrs Ingles hallooed again. They came out of the corn and 
towards her, cautiously, rifles in hand. When near enough to dis- 
tinguish the voice — Mrs. Ingles still hallooing — Adam Harmon 
remarked to his sons: 'Surely, that must be Mrs. Ingles' voice.' 
Just then she, too, recognized Harmon, when she was overwhelmed 
with emotions of joy and relief, poor, overtaxed nature gave way, 
and she swooned and fell, insensible, to the ground. 

"They picked her up tenderly and conveyed her to their little 
cabin, near at hand, where there was protection from the storm, 
a rousing fire and substantial comfort. 



214 History of Tazewell County 

"Mrs. Ingles soon revived^ and the Harmons wei*e unremitting 
in their kind attentions and eflorts to promote her comfort. They 
had in their cabin a stock of fresh venison and bear meat; they set 
to work to cook and make a soup of some of this, and, with excellent 
judgment, would permit their patient to take but little at a time, 
in her famished condition. 

"While answering her hurried questions as to what they knew 
about her home and friends, they warmed some water in their skillet 
and bathed her stiff and swollen feet and limbs, after which they 
wrapped her in their blankets and stowed her away tenderly on 
their pallet in the corner, which to her, by comparison, was 'soft 
as downy pillows are,' a degree of luxury she had not experienced 
since she was torn from her home by ruthless savages, more than 
four months before. 

"Under these new and favoring conditions of safety and comfort, 
it is no wonder that 'nature's sweet restorer' soon came to her relief 
and bathed her wearied senses and aching limbs in balmy, restful and 
refreshing sleep." 

How tenderly and sweetly has the lineal descendant of Mrs. 
Ingles told of her dramatic arrival and reception at the cabin home 
of her former neighbors and friends, Adam Harmon and his two 
sons. And what a splendid tribute he has paid to the gallantry and 
kindness of heart of these rugged pioneers of the New River Valley. 
They were the kindred of the Harmons who were among the first 
settlers in the Clinch Valley; and hundreds of their relations are 
still here. 

Mrs. Ingles remained several days resting and feasting with her 
hospitable and delighted friends, the Harmons. The elder Harmon, 
over the protest of his guest, actually killed a nice young beef, that 
had been fattened on the wild pea vine, to procure a small piece of 
meat to make her some beef tea, which he had heard was a par- 
ticularly good diet for invalids. As soon as Mrs. Ingles thought 
herself sufficiently recuperated to travel, she was placed on a horse 
and Adam Harmon mounted another, to accompany and protect her ; 
and they went to Draper's Meadows, some fifteen miles distant. 
On arrival they found that the settlers at that place had been 
alarmed by a report of another invasion by the Indians, and had 
fled to the fort at Dunkard's Bottom for safety. Without delay 
Mrs. Ingles and Harmon traveled on to Dunkard's Bottom, and 
got there on the evening of the same day they started from Har- 



and Southwest Virginia 215 

mon's home. Mrs. Ingles was pleased to meet again a few of her 
old friends, but was sadly disappointed at not finding her husband, 
and her brother, John Draper, at the fort. The next morning after 
Mrs. Ingles arrived at Dunkard's Bottom she prevailed on Adam 
Harmon to go in search of the old Dutch woman. He found her 
near the mouth of Back Creek, about where the village of Bell Spring 
is now situated, and took her up to the fort. Before a great while, 
Mrs. Stump found an opportunity to go to Winchester, and from 
that point she journeyed on to her home in Pennsylvania. 

Some weeks previous to the arrival of Mrs. Ingles at Dunkard's 
Bottom, her husband, and her brother, John Draper, had gone on a 
journey to the Cherokee towns in Tennessee, to see if they could 
get any information through these friendly Indians of their wives 
and children who had been captured at Draper's Meadows. Ingles 
and Draper failed to accomplish anything by their trip to the 
Cherokees, and were returning heavy-hearted to the settlements. 
The night Mrs. Ingles reached Dunkai'd's Bottom, the two disap- 
pointed, weary men stayed all night at a point about three miles 
west of the fort, near where the town of Newbem, in Pulaski 
County, was afterwards located. The following morning they went 
very early to the fort to get their breakfast, and were joyfully 
surprised to find Mrs. Ingles there. Mr. and Mrs. Ingles had 
remained at the Dunkard's Bottom Fort but a short time when 
information was received of another impending incursion by the 
Shawnees ; and they went to Vass' Fort, some twenty miles east 
of Dunkard's Bottom, where they believed they would find greater 
safety. This fort was located on the east side of the Alleghany 
Mountains, on the headwaters of Roanoke River, and about one 
mile west of the present village of Shawsville, in Montgomery 
County. 

It was in the spring of 1756 that Mr. and Mrs. William Ingles 
went to Vass' Fort. They had been there but a few weeks when Mrs. 
Ingles had a presentiment that the Indians were going to attack 
the place. She was so greatly alai*med that Mr. Ingles took her 
east of the Blue Ridge to a fort in Bedford County, which was near 
the Peaks of Otter. Strange to say, the very day they started 
across the Blue Ridge the mental premonition of Mrs. Ingles was 
fulfilled. The attack on Fort Vass was made in the summer of 
1756, or about one year subsequent to the massacre at Draper's 
Meadows, and was even more horrible in its consequences. Dr. 
Hale, whose kindred were the chief sufferers in this second tragedy 



216 History of Tazewell County 

in what is now Montgomery County, Virginia, from well authen- 
ticated tradition thus describes the terrible incident: 

"John and Matthew Ingles, the younger brothers of William 
Ingles, were at this fort. John was a bachelor. Matthew had a 
wife and one child. Before the attack was made, but after the fort 
was surrounded, an Indian climbed a tall poplar tree which com- 
manded a view of the interior, to take an observation. He was 
discovered and fired on from the foi't, and it is the tradition that it 
was the rifle of John Ingles that brought him down. 

"Matthew Ingles was out hunting when the attack was made; 
hearing the firing, he hastened back, and tried to force his way 
into the Fort, to his wife and child ; he shot one Indian with the load 
in his gun, then clubbed others with the butt until he broke the stock 
off; by this time the gun-barrel was wrenched from his hands, when 
he seized a frying-pan that happened to be lying near, and, breaking 
off the bowl or pan with his foot, he belabored them with the iron 
handle, right and left, until he was knocked down, overpowered and 
badly wounded. The tradition says that he killed two Indians with 
the frying-pan. 

"His bravery and desperate fighting had so excited the admi- 
ration of the Indians that they would not kill him, but carried him 
off a prisoner. He was either released or made his escape some 
time after, and returned to the settlement, but never entirely 
recovered from his wounds. He died at Ingles' Ferry a few months 
later. His wife and child were murdered in the Fort as was his 
brother John." 

From the diary of Colonel William Preston, which is published 
in the papers of Lyman C. Draper, and from other sources the fol- 
lowing appears to be an accurate list of the persons killed, wounded 
and captured at Fort Vass : 

Lieutenant John Smith, John Ingles, John Robinson, and Mrs. 
Matthew Ingles and child, killed; William Robinson, Thomas Robin- 
son, Samuel Robinson, and Matthew Ingles, wounded; Peter Looney, 
William Bratton, Joseph Smith, William Pepper, Mrs. Vass and 

two daughters, James Bell, Christopher Hicks, - — - — Cole, 

Graham, Benj . Davies, and John Walker, prisoners. It is probable 
that all the wounded were carried off as prisoners. Some of the 
captives made their escape, but whether this happened while en 
route to the Ohio country or after arrival at the Indian towns is 



and Southwest Virginia 217 

not known. Those who made their escape were: Captain John 
Smith, Peter Looney, William Bratton and Matthew Ingles. 

There are several excellent reasons for giving, as I have done, 
a somewhat extended account of the massacre at Draper's Meadows. 
It was the first serious outrage committed by the Indians upon the 
pioneer settlers of Southwest Virginia; and was typical of quite a 
number of similar tragedies that were later to be enacted in the 
New River, Clinch River and Holston River valleys. It also 
furnished, in the persons and characters of Mrs. William Ingles and 
Mrs. John Draper, excellent types of the noble pioneer women who 
came to this section with their husbands and fathers to do their part 
in transforming a dense wilderness region into a land of beautiful 
homes, to be occupied by a thrifty and intelligent people. 

The Draper's Meadows massacre was also an important event 
in connection with the history of Tazewell County, as Colonel James 
Patton was the central and commanding figure of this first murder- 
ous assault by the Indians upon the pioneer settlers of Southwest 
Virginia. He was the first man to organize and bring an exploring 
and surveying party to the section of Virginia west of New River. 
This was in 1748, and, as has been previously related, he then visited 
Burke's Garden, and in 1760 and 1753 had surveying done on the 
headwaters of Clinch River, and in Abb's Valley. He thus prepared 
the way for those who came to settle in what is now known as 
Tazewell County. 



218 History of Tazewell County 

CHAPTER V. 

HOLSTON VALLEY INVADED BY INDIANS THE SANDY EXPEDITION. 

In the summer of 1755, just about the time of the attack upon 
Draper's Meadows, a scalping party of Shawnees made an incursion 
into the Middle Holston Valley. They attacked the more exposed 
settlements, killed several settlers and captured others. Captain 
Samuel Stalnaker, who then had his cabin home some four or five 
miles west of the present town of Marion, Smyth County, Virginia, 
was made a captive, and Mrs. Stalnaker and Adam Stalnaker were 
killed. The presumption is that they were the wife and son of 
Samuel Stalnaker. He was the man whose house Dr. Walker and 
party helped to "raise" in March, 1750, while they were en route 
to Cumberland Gap and Kentucky. Stalnaker and the other pris- 
oners were taken through or across the Clinch Valley by the Indians 
on their return to their towns in Ohio. This is evidenced by the 
journal of Colonel William Preston who commanded a company in 
the expedition of Colonel Andrew Lewis, known in history as the 
"Sandy Expedition," and which was made in the months of February 
and March, 1756. While traveling down the stream that Colonel 
Preston called "Sandy Creek," on Sundy the 29th of February, 
1756, he noted in his journal: "This creek has been much fre- 
quented by Indians both traveling and hunting on it, and from late 
signs I am apprehensive that Stalnaker and the prisoners taken with 
him were carried this way." Captain Stalnaker made his escape 
from the Indians, but when, where, or how is not recorded in any 
history, nor is there any record showing what was the fate of the 
other prisoners. 

There were a number of persons killed, wounded, and captured 
on New River and Reed Creek by the Shawnees who persisted in 
sending scalping parties to those sections in the summer and fall 
of 1755, and in February and March 1756. It was to avenge the 
outrages inflicted upon the settlers in the New River and Holston 
valleys, as well as the massacre at Draper's Meadows, that the 
"Sandy Expedition" was projected. The purpose of this expedi- 
tion was to march to the Ohio River and punish the Shawnees, by 
killing as many of them as possible, and to destroy their towns. 

Colonel Andrew Lewis was commander of the expedition, and 
his forces consisted of about four hundred men, including one bun- 



and Southwest Virginia 219 

dred, or more, Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians, who had been 
induced to become allies of the Virginians in the French and Indian 
War. This small army was composed of Augusta County militia 
and four companies of volunteers. The several military companies 
were commanded by Captains Peter Hogg, William Preston, John 
Smith, Samuel Overton, and Obediah Woodson ; and the four volun- 
teer companies were under the command of Captains Robert Breck- 

enridge, Archibald Alexander, John Montgomery, and Dunlap. 

The Indians had been recruited by Captain Richard Pearis and 
were commanded by him. 

This expedition was assembled at Fort Prince George, after- 
wards called Fort Lewis, four miles west of where Salem, Roanoke 
County, is now located. Captain William Preston was placed in 
charge of the vanguard, and began the march on "Monday ye, 9th 
day of February, 1756;" and in his journal says: 

"In persuance to ye orders of Major Lewis, dated the 9th inst., 
I marched from Fort Prince George, with my two Lieutenants, 2 
Sergeants, 3 Corporals, and 25 Privates." On Wednesday, the 1 1th, 
they arrived at New River, at Ingles' Ferry, where they found the 
Indian allies in camp; and Captain Preston says: "As we marched 
by the Cherokee Camp we saluted them by firing off guns, which 
they returned in seeming great joy and afterwards honored us with 
a war dance." 

Major Lewis with the main body of his white force, arrived at 
New River and reviewed all the troops on Friday, the 13th; and on 
Saturday, the 14th, Captain Dunlap joined them with a company 
of twenty-five volunteers. This completed the military force that 
was encamped at Fort Frederick, which was the name then held 
by the fort at Dunkard's Bottom. On Sunday, the 15th inst., James 
Burke, who had fled from Burke's Garden, arrived at the camp and 
gave information that Robert Looney had been killed by the Shaw- 
nee Indians near the home of Alex Sawyers, on Reed Creek. 

The expedition had been organized to go to Ohio to look for 
the Shawnees and destroy their towns; but Major Lewis and his 
little army were about to come in contact with small bands of these 
Indians at a point only some sixty miles distant from Fort Prince 
George, the starting place, and right in the settlements on Reed 
Creek. As a matter of precaution, on Monday, the 16th, forty 
Indians and sixty white men were sent out to range the woods about 
Reed Creek; and on Thursday, the 19th, the army broke camp and 



220 History of Tazewell County 

started on its perilous and disastrous journey. As this was the first 
military expedition of white men that entered and passed over the 
territory now embraced in Tazewell County, it is an event of special 
interest in connection with the history of the county. Therefore, I 
will reproduce that part of Captain Preston's journal which shows 
the route pursued and what transpired while Lewis and his men 
were marching through this particular region. The following are 
the entries made by Captain Preston. 

"Thursday 19, Left Fort Frederick at 10 o'clock: 27 loaded 
pack horses, got to William Sawyers: camped on his barn floor. 

"Friday 20, Switched one of the soldiers for swearing, which 
very much incensed the Indian chiefs then present. Advanced to 
Alex Sawyers, met the Indians who went out with the first division, 
and Lieutenant Ingles, who informed us of the burial of Robert 
Looney. Some of our Indians deserted. 

"Sat. 21, Major Lewis, Capt. Pearis and the interpreter went to 
Col. Buchanan's place (Anchor and Hope), where they met the 
Indians who had deserted us, and induced them to return, which 
they did. 

"Sunday, 22, marched to John McFarlands." (McFarland lived 
in Black Lick on the head of Reed Creek.) 

"Monday, 23, marched over the mountain to Bear Garden, on 
North Fork of Holston's river. Lost sundry horses. 

"Tuesday 24, Crossed two mountains and arrived at Burkes 
Garden. Had plenty of potatoes, which the soldiers gathered in 
the deserted plantations. 

"Wednesday 25, Remained in Camp. 

"Burke's Garden is a tract of land of 5,000 or 6,000 acres as 
rich and fertile as any I ever saw, as well watered with many 
beautiful streams and is surrounded with mountains almost impas- 
sible. 

"Thursday 26, Marched early, crossed three large mountains, 
arrived at head of Clinch. Our hunters found no game. 

"Friday 27, Lay by on account of rain. Hunters killed three 
or four bears. 

"Saturday 28, passed several branches of Clinch and at length 
got to the head of Sandy Creek where we met with great trouble and 
fatigue, occasioned by heavy rain, and driving our baggage horses 
down said creek, which we crossed 20 times that evening. Killed 
three buffaloes and some deer. 



and Southwest Virginia 221 

There were no settlers in the territory which now constitutes 
Tazewell County when the Sandy Expedition passed through 
Burke's Garden and the Clinch Valley. If James Burke had formed 
an intention to become a permanent settler, he abandoned such 
intention when he fled from the Indians, never to enter Burke's 
Garden again as a resident. 

I am at a loss to understand what Captain William Preston 
meant by the entry made in his journal on the 24th of February, 
1756, stating that they: "Had plenty of potatoes which the soldiers 
gathered in the deserted plantations." This entry would justify 
the conclusion that there was more cleared and cultivated land there 
at that time than tradition has placed to the account of James Burke's 
industry. It might also warrant the belief that other persons had 
been living there besides Burke. The plantations, however, men- 
tioned by Captain Preston may have been what the first settlers 
called "patches." 

Another very peculiar entry in the Preston journal is one which 
tells that when the expedition left Burke's Garden it crossed three 
movmtains to reach the head of Clinch River. If this statement is 
corre(;t, tlie army did not make its exit through the gap at the west 
end of the Garden. In the mountain wliich encircles the Garden 
there is a low place between the gap and the Bear Town peak. 
Colonel Lewis evidently took his men through this low place over 
to Little Creek, then crossed Rich Mountain to a point just west of 
the divide between Clear Fork and the Clinch Valley. Not being 
familiar with the country, instead of turning westward, down the 
valley, the expedition crossed Buckhorn Mountain and came into 
the valley just west of Dial Rock. Thence the march was con- 
tinued until the head of "Sandy Creek" was reached. 

I>ocal historians have expressed different views as to which 
branch of the stream was reached and followed. This, Tiowever, 
is unimportant, as Tug River was the main stream followed, and 
received its name from an incident which occurred during the jour-- 
ney. At one time the provisions were so completely exhausted that 
the men were threatened with starvation. Johnston, in his History 
of the New River Settlements, thus relates what occurred: "The 
weather was extremely cold, snow having fallen the march was a 
difficult one, and the men stopping at Burning Spring (Warfield) 
took strips of the hides of the buffaloes and broiled them in the 
burning gas. They cut them into strips or thugs, hence the name of 
Tug River. On leaving the spring they scattered through the 



222 History of Tazewell County 

mountains and many of them perished, either frozen to death, 
starved, or killed by the Indians. They left, however, some marks 
by the way, cutting their names on trees on the route pursued by 
them, notably at the forks of Big Coal and Clear Fork of that 
river, but these trees have been destroyed in recent years." 

The remnant of the little army was then returning from its 
unsuccessful and disastrous expedition. It did not get as far as the 
mouth of Sandy River, the point where it was expected to reach the 
Ohio. On the 12th of March the men were so discouraged that they 
began to desert; and on the 13th Montgomery's and Dunlap's volun- 
teers left with a view of getting back to their homes, if they could. 
It is probable that it was then that the return march was begun. 

Colonel George Washington was ill command of all the Virginia 
military forces in 1756, with his headquarters at Winchester, as 
previously related, and he vigorously opposed the Sandy Expedition. 
He knew the wild and rugged character of the region through which 
Lewis and his men had to travel, and was confident the enterprise 
would prove unsuccessful, especially as it was undertaken in the 
winter season. Governor Dinwiddie was so provoked at the Shaw- 
nees for their repeated savage attacks upon the frontier settlements 
that he insisted that the expedition should go forward, and upon 
him rested the responsibility for its failure. 

The failure of the Sandy Expedition was not only a seriously 
alarming blow to the English settlements west of New River, but 
was a great incentive to the Shawnees and the other hostile tribes in 
Ohio to continue their savage attacks upon the border settlements, 
extending from the Holston Valley to the Potomac River. These 
incursions of the Indians were encouraged and supported by the 
French, who were then engaged in a general war with Great Britain, 
and were vigorously prosecuting the French and Indian War against 
the English colonies in America. The French were not only furnish- 
ing the Indians with arms, ammunition, and other supplies, but 
were paying them liberally for the scalps of tlie English settlers, 
and also for the prisoners they captured. These conditions con- 
tinued until the close of the French and Indian War in 1761, and 
the Pontiac War in 1763; and resulted in driving out nearly all 
the settlers who had located west of New River. Colonel William 
Preston, who, after the death of liis uncle. Colonel James Patton, 
became the guiding spirit of the Trans-Alleghany Pioneers, in a 
letter written from his home at Greenfield, in the present Botetourt 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 223 

County, on the 27th of July, 1763, thus related the unhappy condi- 
tion of the settlements along and west of New River : 

"Our situation at present is very different from what it was 
when we had the pleasure of your company in this country. All 
the valleys of Roanoke river and along the waters of the Mississippi 
are depopulated, except Captain English (Ingles) with a few 
families on New river, who have built a fort, among whom are Mr. 
Thompson and his family, alone remaining. They intend to make 
a stand until some assistance be sent them. Seventy-five of the 
Bedford militia went out in order to pursue the enemy, but I hear 
the officers and part of the men are gone home, and the rest gone 
to Reed Creek to help in the family of James Davis and in two or 
three other families there that dare not venture to travel. 

"I have built a little fort in which are eighty-seven persons, 
twenty of whom bear arms. We are in a pretty good posture of 
defence, and with the aid of God are determined to make a stand. 
In five or six other places in this part of the country they have 
fallen into the same method and with the same resolution. How 
long we may keep them is uncertain. No enemy have appeared here 
as yet. Their guns are frequently heard and their footing observed, 
which makes us believe they will pay us a visit. My two sisters and 
their families are here and all in good health. We bear our misfor- 
tunes so far with fortitude and are in hopes of being relieved." 



224 History of Tazewell County 

CHAPTER VI. 

WHY SETTLEMENTS DELAYED IN CLINCH VALLEY. 

No settlers came to the Clinch Valley until nearly twenty years 
after surveying parties had come in and located tracts of land here. 
John Buchanan, deputy surveyor of Augusta County, had made 
surveys on the waters of Clinch River, in 1750; and Colonel Patton 
and William Ingles had surveyed a number of boundaries in Burke's 
Garden, Abb's Valley, and on the headwaters of Clinch River in 
1753. The inquiry has frequently been made why the settlements 
were so delayed in the Clinch Valley, especially as a number of 
persons had located with their families on New River and its tribu- 
taries, and even in the Holston Valley, as early as 1750. 

When Dr. Thomas Walker made his famous expedition to Cum- 
berland Gap in 1750, he found settlers scattered along the route 
he pursued from the "Great Lick," the site of Roanoke City, to the 
present Seven Mile Ford, on the Middle Fork of Holston River. 
These settlers, when they came in, had followed the Buffalo Trail, 
which the Cherokees had been using for years in making their hunt- 
ing excursions that were extended as far east as the Great Lick, 
and even to the Peaks of Otter. It was also the same trail that the 
traders from Eastern Virginia had traveled when they went on 
trading expeditions to the Cherokee towns in Tennessee, then North 
Carolina. The Clinch Valley was then used by the Indians, the 
Cherokees and the Shawnees, as a hunting ground; and had never 
been entered by white men, except a few hunting parties, who were, 
possibly, as anxious to preserve it for a game park as were the 
Indians. 

But for certain causes, which I will mention, settlements would 
have been made in what is now Tazewell County immediately fol- 
lowing the surveying of land here by the Loyal Company, of which 
company. Dr. Thomas Walker was the active agent. This company 
had, by an order of the Virginia Council, obtained leave to take up 
and survey 800,000 acres of land, in one or more surveys, to be 
located on the north of the North Carolina line, and running west- 
ward and northward for quantity; and the company was given four 
years to complete its surveys and purchase riglits for the same. 
The company began its work of surveying in 1750, and sold a num- 
ber of tracts west of New River, to purchasers at the rate of three 



and Southwest Virginia 225 

pounds per hundred acres. Some of the purchasers settled on the 
lands they bought, while others failed to make settlements. The 
Loyal ComiDany was then interrupted by caveats entered by the 
Ohio Company and other conflicting claimants, which prevented the 
completion of the surveying within the term of four years pre- 
scribed by the order of council. An application was made for a 
renewal of the grant and on the 14th of June, 1753, an order was 
made by the council, giving the company four years more to comr 
plete the surveys. By this last order the lands granted are described 
as lands lying on the branches of the Mississippi in the county of 
Augusta. The company began as soon as possible to locate and 
sell lands under the renewed grant, but the P'rench and Indian War 
then came on in 1754, and put an end to the surveying. The 
Indians commenced their hostile incursions into the settlements west 
of the Alleghanies; and this not only prevented, for a period of 
nine years, the making of any settlements in the Clinch Valley, 
but drove out nearly all the settlers in the New River and Holston 
valleys. 

The Greenbrier Company, organized by Andrew Lewis and 
other prominent Virginians, obtained a grant from the Virginia 
Council for 100,000 acres of land, which was to be located west of 
the Alleghanies, and south of the Ohio. The execution of the sur- 
veying of this company had also been hindered by the same causes 
that had affected the Loyal Company. As soon as the war was 
terminated these two companies presented a joint petition to the 
governor and council, representing that they had made a number of 
actual surveys of lands within their respective grants and made sales 
of tracts to divers persons. The petition also set forth the fact that 
the companies had been prevented from completing their surveys and 
making settlements thereon only by the war; and pi'aying the 
renewal of their grants for another four years. 

In the meantime King George II. had sent instructions to the 
colonial government to make no more grants upon the western 
waters. P'ollowing this instruction, the governor and council, on the 
25th of May, 1763, declared that they were restrained by the royal 
instructions from granting the prayer of the two companies. On 
the 7th of October, 1763, the king issued a proclamation prohibit- 
ing all persons from settling in that tract of country west of the 
Alleghanies, which included the territory west of New River; and 
the proclamation of the king even required those persons who had 
settled in this region under patents to remove therefrom and take 

T.H.— 15 



226 History of Tazewell County 

up their residence in the interior. This course was adopted by the 
royal government to pacify the Indians^ who, after the French and 
Indian War was terminated, remained bitterly hostile to the Eng- 
lish, because of their manifest purpose to rob the natives of their 
lands and hunting grounds. 

The proclamation of the king not only destroyed every possible 
hope that the Loyal Company could ever again secure from the 
royal government a renewal of its grants, but, seemingly, invali- 
dated the titles to all the lands it had sold to settlers or prospec- 
tive settlers. This latter conclusion was based upon the conviction 
that the Virginia Council had made a grant to the Loyal Company 
of lands that did not belong to the English Crown, but were still 
owned by the Indians. And the order of the king for the removal of 
all persons who had settled in the forbidden territory placed another 
obstruction to the settlement of the Clinch Valley which lasted for 
a period of years. 

The Iroquois, or Six Nations, of New York, who had been allies 
of the British in the war just closed, claimed by right of conquest 
all the Virginia territory west of the Blue Ridge and south of the 
Ohio River; and the Cherokees, who were also allies of the British 
in the war, demanded the withdrawal of all the white settlers from 
the territory west of New River and south of the Ohio. These 
demands were recognized by the British Government as just; but 
gave great concern to the Loyal Company and all persons to whom 
the company had sold lands west of New River, either for homes 
or speculative purposes. And the company and its vendees went 
earnestly to work to secure relief by the negotiation of treaties with 
the two Indian nations. Quite a number of would-be settlers had 
congregated in the Upper James River Valley and the Roanoke 
Valley, eagerly awaiting opportunity to move beyond New River. 
In response to their appeals, and through the very effective work of 
Dr. Walker and other members of the Loyal Company, treaties were 
made with the Indians by which the section west of New River was 
opened up for settlement. 

In the spring of 17(58 the British Government instructed Sir 
William Johnson, of New York, to negotiate a treaty with the Six 
Nations, and procure from them the relinquishment of their asserted 
claim of certain territory in the provinces of New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania and Virginia. He called a congress of the chiefs of 
the Iroquois Confederacy, which assembled at Fort Stanwix, near 
Oswego, New York, on the 24th of October, 1768; and four days 



and Southwest Virginia 227 

thereafter, on the 28th of the same month, a treaty was concluded. 
Dr. Thomas Walker was present, as commissioner from Virginia, 
and witnessed the signing of the treaty by the six representative 
chiefs of the Indian confederacy. No doubt the skillful management 
of the accomplished agent of the Loyal Company had much to do 
with securing the desired treaty with the Indians. The treaty con- 
veyed to King George Third, Sovereign Lord of Great Britain, 
France and Ireland, all the Virginia territory claimed by the Iro- 
quois, south of the Ohio River, beginning at the mouth of the 
Cherokee (Holston) River, where it empties into the River Ohio, 
and following along the southern side of said River to Kittanning, 
which is above Fort Pitt. This eliminated for all time the claim of 
ownership of Virginia territory by the Iroquois. 

The British Government had also directed John Stuart, Southern 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to negotiate a treaty with the 
Cherokees. He met the chiefs of the Upper and Lower Cherokee 
Nations at Hard Labor, South Carolina, and negotiated a treaty 
with these Indians on the 14th of October, 1768, just two weeks 
before the treaty at Fort Stanwix was concluded. This treaty was 
entirely unsatisfactory, as it failed to secure the very purpose for 
which it was sought. It left in the possession of the Cherokees all 
the territory they claimed west of New River, which they had held 
for many years as their most cherished hunting grounds, the Clinch 
and the Holston valleys particularly. 

Dr. Walker had been appointed commissioner from Virginia to 
be present when the treaty was made with the Cherokees, but did 
not attend the meeting. No reasonable explanation was ever given by 
John Stuart for the negotiation of a treaty whose terms were the 
very opposite of those sought and intended by the government he 
represented. Lord Botetourt was then governor of Virginia, and 
he was induced to appoint Colonel Andrew Lewis and Dr. Thomas 
Walker commissioners to visit the Cherokees and procure from them 
another treaty on the desired lines. They proceeded promptly to 
South Carolina, where they had conferences with some of the Chero- 
kee chiefs, and obtained from them a pledge that the settlers west 
of New River should not be disturbed in the possession of their 
homes, pending the negotiations for rearranging the boundary lines 
of the hunting grounds of the tribe. It was also arranged by the 
commissioners that a new treaty should be made with the Indians. 
John Stuart, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, met the principle 
chiefs and about a thousand of the warriors of the Cherokees at 



228 History of Tazewell County 

Lochaber, South Carolina, on the 18th of October, 1770, and on 
October 22nd, the treaty was concluded. 

This treaty seems to have been of as much moment to South 
Carolina and North Carolina as it was to Virginia, judging from the 
persons who attended the assembly. From a record of the meeting 
embodied in the treaty it appears those present besides John Stuart 
were: Colonel John Donelson, who was there "by appointment of 
his Excellency, the Right Honorable Lord Botetourt, in behalf of 
the Province of Virginia," Alex'r Cameron, Deputy Superintendent; 
James Simpson, Clk of his Majesty's Council of South Carolina; 
Major Lacy, from Virginia; Major Williamson, Capt. Cohoon; John 
Caldwell, Esq., Captain Winter, Christopher Peters, Esq., besides 
a great number of the back inhabitants of the province of South 
Carolina; and the following chiefs of the Cherokee Nation: Oconis- 
toto, Killagusta, Attacallaculla, Keyatory, Tiftoy, Terreaino, 
Encyod Tugalo, Scaliloskie Chinista, Chinista of Watangali, Octa- 
citi of Hey Wassie, and about a thousand other Indians of the 
same Nation." 

The following are the most important recitals in the treaty: 
"The subscribing Cherokee Chiefs and Warriors on behalf of their 
said Nation in consideration of his Majesty's paternal goodness, so 
often demonstrated to them, the said Cherokee Indians, and from 
affection and friendship for their Brethren, the Inhabitants of Vir- 
ginia, as well as their earnest desire of removing as far as possible 
all cause of dispute between them and the said inhabitants on 
account of encroachments on lands reserved by the said Indians for 
themselves, and also for a valuable consideration in various sorts 
of goods paid to them by the said John Stuart, on belialf of the 
Dominion of Virginia, that the hereafter recited line be ratified 
and confirmed, and it is hereby ratified and confirmed accordingly: 
and it is by these presents firmly stipulated and agreed upon by the 
parties aforesaid that a line beginning where the boundary line 
between the province of No. Carolina and the Cherokee hunting 
grounds terminates and running thence in a west course to a point 
six miles east of Long Island in Holston's river and thence to 
said river six miles above the said Long Island, thence in a 

course to the confluenre of the great Canaway and Ohio 

rivers. Shall remain and be deemed by all of his Majesty's white 
subjects as well as all the Indians of the Cherokee Nation, the 
true and just boimdaries of the lands reserved by the said Nation 
of Indians for their own proper use, and dividing the same from the 



and Southwest Virginia 229 

lands ceded by them to his Majesty's within the limits of the pro- 
vince of Virginia, and that his Majesty's white subjects inhabiting 
the province of Virginia, shall not, upon any pretense whatsoever, 
settle beyond the line, nor shall the said Indians make any settle- 
ments or encroachments on the lands which by this treaty they cede 
and confirm to his Majesty." 

The 2nd Article of the treaty provided that there should be no 
alteration whatsoever in the boundry line established by the treaty, 
"except such as may hereafter be found expedient and necessary 
for the mutual interest of both parties." 

By the completion of this treaty with the Cherokees the titles 
to the lands already occupied by settlers, or purchased for future 
settlement, were quieted, where the purchases had been made from 
the Loyal Company under its grant for 800,000 acres or from 
Colonel Patton under his grant for 120,000 acres. It also vacated 
the proclamation, issued by the king in 1763, forbidding all persons 
from settling on the "western waters;" and it threw the Clinch 
Valley wide open, as well as all the territory ceded by the Cherokees, 
for settlement. The Loyal Company, however, was denied the right 
of making further locations under its grant, which had expired by 
limitation in 1763, and had never been renewed. At this time the 
British Government and the Colonial Government of Virginia were 
impressed with the wisdom of extending the frontiers of the 
Dominion as far westward as possible; and earnest invitation was 
given emigrants to make their homes on the waters of the Missis- 
sippi, in what is now known as Southwest Virginia. Very liberal 
land laws were enacted and new counties were erected as induce- 
ments to attract settlers west of the Alleghanies and beyond New 
River. On the 28th of November, 1769, the General Assembly of 
Virginia passed an act for dividing the county of Augusta into two 
counties, thereby bringing the county of Botetourt into existence. 
As the act is almost contemporary with the first settlements made 
in Tazewell County I will quote from it very liberally, as follows : 

"I. Whereas many inconveniences attend the inhabitants of the 
county and parish of Augusta, by reason of the great extent thereof, 
and the said inhabitants have petitioned this General Assembly that 
the said county and parish be divided: 

"Be it therefore enacted, by the Governor, Council and Burgesses 
of this General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority 
of the same. That from and after the 31st day of January next 



230 History of Tazewell County 

ensuing the said county and parish of Augusta be divided into two 
counties and parishes by a line begiruiing at the Blue Ridge, running 
north fifty-five degrees west, to the confluence of Mary's creek, or 
the South river, with the north branch of James river, thence up 
the same to the mouth of Carrs creek, thence up the said creek to 
the mountain, thence north fifty-five degrees west, as far as the 
courts of the two counties shall extend it; and that all of that part 
of the said county and parish which lies on the south side of said 
line, shall be one distinct county and parish, and called and known 
by the name of Botetourt; and that all the other part thereof, which 
is on the north side of said line, shall be one other distinct county 
and parish and retain the name of Augusta." 

The act provided for the payment of officers' fees in tobacco at 
the rate of eight shillings and four pence per hundred weight of 
gross tobacco, but the most imjjortant and interesting features of the 
act to the future settlers of the Clinch Valley was the following: 

"IX. And whereas the people situated on the waters of the 
Mississippi, in the said county of Botetourt, will be very remote 
from their court-house, and must necessarily become a separate 
county, as soon as their numbers are sufficient, which will probably 
happen in a short time: Be it further enacted by the authority 
aforesaid. That the inhabitants of that part of the said county of 
Botetourt, which lies on the said waters, shall be exempted from 
the payment of levies, to be laid by the said county court for the 
purpose of building a county court-house and prison for the said 
county." 

In Clause IX. of this act we find an urgent appeal to brave 
pioneer spirits to push further into the wilderness, and erect a bar- 
rier to furnish additional protection for the people east of the Blue 
Ridge from incursions by the hostile natives. There is also a con- 
fident prediction made in the act that the invitation would be 
promptly responded to by such numbers of persons seeking homes 
in the Clinch and Holston valleys, that "in a short time" a new 
county would have to be formed. 



and Southwest Virginia 231 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE TAZEWELL PIONEER SETTLERS. 

No word that is more expressive than "Pioneer" has ever been 
written into the English language. It means not only the first to 
enter any field of endeavor, but signifies unusual achievement in 
some worthy undertaking by the man or woman who fairly wins the 
title. The unvarnished narrative I will write about the daring men 
and loyal women who first came to make homes for themselves and 
their children in the unbroken forests of this region, now known as 
Tazewell County, will have little merit if it fails to help procure 
for these immortals a high niche in the Temple of Fame that will 
surely be erected some day, somewhere, to perpetuate the memory 
of the Trans-Alleghany Pioneers. They were of a class entirely 
different from the adventurers and outcasts that Captain Newport 
brought to Jamestown in 1607-8-9. They had no wealthy corporate 
bod}'^, like the London Company, to give them supplies of food and 
clothing, arms and ammunition, and houses to dwell in, nor soldiers 
of a royal government to protect them from attacks by the hostile 
natives. Nor were they of an indolent, vagrant class, like those 
first settlers at Jamestown, who were listed as "gentlemen," but 
who died from starvation because they were too lazy or too proud 
to work. They found no fertile fields on the banks of noble rivers 
and spendid bays, already prepared for cultivation, and which 
they could wrest by fraud or force from the simple, hospitable 
natives. But these glorious pioneers of the Clinch Valley were real 
men and women, with great hearts, strong and willing hands, and 
inspired with a resolute purpose to do all they could, with the means 
they had, to secure for themselves and their descendants the politi- 
cal and religious freedom that had been denied them or their 
fathers in the "Old Countries." In perseverance, in self-command, 
in forethought, in heroism, in all the virtues that conduce to success 
in life, the Tazewell Pioneers have never been surpassed. Our 
ancestors chose well when they selected this beautiful mountain 
country for their homes and for establishing a civic community for 
sturdy men and lovely women. Nature, or rather Nature's Almighty 
Creator, had profusely placed here, for the benefit of the pioneers 
and their successors, the three greatest essentials for the develop- 



232 History of Tazewell County 

ment and extension of a refined civilization — an invigorating climate, 
a fruitful soil, and a sublime aspect of nature. 

When writing about the first settlers, I shall make no great 
effort to disclose their antecedents, except for the purpose of show- 
ing from whence they came. This will be done as briefly as possible ; 
and then I will strive to show what manner of men and women they 
were by narrating what they accomplished after they came to the 
Clinch Valley and other sections of the county. While doing this, 
equally as much consideration shall be given the first generation 
born here, quite a number of whom I knew; and from whom I 
learned much that has inspired me to execute the pleasant task 
of writing this history. They are truly worthy to be classed with 
the pioneers, as many of them were co-workers with their fathers 
and mothers in the excellent preparation that was made for the 
organization of the civic community which bears the name of Taze- 
well County. 

A number of men with their families had collected in the New 
River Valley, and in sections of Augusta County east of the Alle- 
ghany Mountains, eagerly awaiting an opportunity to locate in the 
Clinch^ Valley. And immediately following the assurance that they 
could take up lands unincumbered by claims of the Indians or the 
Loyal Company, the pioneers began to move in and settle on the 
waters of the Clinch. There has been much conjecture and many 
opinions expressed as to the time of the entrance of the pioneers 
into Tazewell. Dr. Geo. W. L. Bickley, in his History of Tazewell 
County, published in 1852, places the first permanent settlement 
here in the spring of 1771. Writing of this event, Bickley says: 

"1771.) In the spring of this year Thomas Witten and John 
Greenup moved out and settled at Crab Orchard, which Witten 
purchased of Butler. Absalom Looney settled in a beautiful valley 
now known as Abb's Valley. Mathias Harman and his brothers, 
Jacob and Henry, settled at Carr's place (on one of the head 
branches of the Clinch river, two miles east of the present town of 
Jeffersonville). John Craven settled in the Cove, Joseph Martin, 
John Henry and James King settled in Thompson Valley, and John 
Bradshaw in the valley two miles west of Jeffersonville. The set- 
tlers, this year, found little annoyance from the Indians, who were 
living peaceably at their homes in the west and south. The conse- 
quence was the settlers erected substantial homes and opened lands 
to put in corn, from which they reaped a plentiful supply, in the fall. 



and Southwest Virginia 23'5 

"Truth as best it can be found; a judicial mind to solve conflicts 
and get at what human beings might have done — even if they did 
not do it — will at least satisfy conviction when the real facts are 
obliterated or beclouded. Fortunately in your undertaking, you 
know the truth or can get it." 

Tazewell's first historian did a wonderful work, in view of the 
fact that he was only occupied seven weeks in gathering data and 
writing his interesting and valuable book. The statistics, and other 
invaluable data he used, were furnished him largely by Dr. Fielding 
Peery, who at that time was, possibly, the most learned and scientific 
man in Tazewell County. But for this assistance, Dr. Bickley would 
have been compelled to occupy as many months as he did weeks in 
the execution of his task. That he made some mistakes is very 
evident ; and that many valuable facts and interesting incidents con- 
nected with the early history of the county were overlooked, or not 
obtained, is certain. In his preface, Dr. Bickley says he knew he 
would commit errors. It is to be regretted that he performed his 
work with so much haste, as it is now very difficult to supply his 
omissions. This, however, I shall try to do as effectively as I can. 
He failed to mention some of the earliest settlers, among them the 
Thompsons, the Cecils, and others, who were closely identified with 
the pioneer settlement of the county. I am satisfied he was mis- 
taken in the date he gave of the first permanent settlements made 
here- — that is in 1771 and 1772. And he was clearly in error when 
fixing the date of the first hunting party that came to the Clincli 
Valley, that is in 1766. 

The Loyal Company was not only disputing the claims of the 
Indians to the territory west of New River, but Dr. Walker, the 
shrewd and diligent agent of the company, was actively at work all 
the while to induce settlements on the numerous tracts of land he had 
surveyed and sold to various purchasers. Colonel John Buchanan 
and the heirs and representatives of Colonel James Patton were also 
urging settlers to move in and occupy the tracts that had been sur- 
veyed under the grant of 120,000 acres to Colonel Patton. The 
Virginians who, as officers and soldiers, had served in the French 
and Indian War felt at liberty to make locations in this section 
under the grants that had been given them for military service and 
were making locations. Consequently settlers had been moving into 
the country, to the Holston Valley and other localities, for several 
years preceding 1771. 



236 



History of Tazewell County 



In the year 1765, David Campbell purchased from Colonel John 
Buchanan a tract of land containing 740 acres, called "Royal Oak," 
situated on the Middle Fork of the Holston River, just east of the 
present town of Marion. This boundary of land had been surveyed 
by Colonel Buchanan in 174<8. In the year 1766 Arthur and John 
Campbell, sons of David Campbell, moved from their homes in what 
is now Rockbridge County, to the Holston Valley. Arthur built his 




The above picture shows the house that Arthur Campbell built at 
Royal Oak. He surrounded it with a stockade and made it a fort when 
the In(Uans began to attack the Holston settlements. 

house on the tract his fatlier had purchased from Colonel Buchanan, 
and turned his home into a stockaded fort in 1773, when trouble 
with the Indians began. This was afterwards known as Campbell's 
or "Royal Oak Fort," and will be frequently mentioned in connection 
with the Clinch Valley, for reasons that will be apparent. Arthur 
Campbell built a mill near his home, on the Middle Fork of Holston 
River in 1770, the first mill that was erected on the watei-s of the 
Holston, Fortunately I have a picture of the old Campbell home, 
built in 1766. The house was, unfortunately, torn down a few 
years ago ; and the picture is shown above. Summers, in his History 
of Southwest Virginia, sa3's: 

"Among the settlers that came this year (1768) was Joseph 



and Southwest Virginia 237 

Martin a daring and enterprising backwoodsman. He was accom- 
panied by a band of from twenty to thirty men, and led them to 
Powell's Valley, now in Lee county, Virginia, where they erected 
a fort upon the north side of a creek, near two fine springs of water, 
which fort and creek were thereafter called Martin's Fort and 
Martin's Creek. * * * There were some five or six cabins 
built about twenty feet apart, with strong stockades between, and 
in the stockades there were port-holes. Here they cleared the land 
and planted corn and other vegetables. In the latter part of the 
summer of this year the Indians l)roke them up, and the settlers 
returned to the waters of the Holston. Martin's Fort was not 
occupied after the Revolutionary War." 

Reuben Gold Thwaites, in his "Documentary History of Dun- 
more's War," says that Captain William Russell moved from Cul- 
peper County to Clinch River in 1770, if not earlier. 

Thomas Witten, who was, beyond dispute, the first white man to 
bring his family to Tazewell Count}'^ and make permanent settle- 
ment here, had been living on Walker's Creek, in the present Giles 
County, Virginia, for a year or more prior to his settlement at the 
Crab Orchard on the Clinch. He had boldly disregarded the claims 
of the Indians to the territory west of New River, and had defiantly 
ignored the royal proclamation of 1763, wliich forbade British sub- 
jects settling in the disputed region. If his intended destination was 
the Clinch Valley, why should he linger on Walker's Creek until 
1771.'' From well authenticated tradition, whicli I will in a future 
chapter set forth, he must have settled in tlie Clinch Valley as early 
as 1767, as he was living at the Crab Orchard when the battle 
between the Shawnees and Cherokees was fought on the toji of Rich 
Mountain, just west of Plum Creek Gap, in 1768. 

Though it is stated by Bickley that Rees Bowen settled at 
Maiden Spring in 1772, it is a tradition with the Bowen family that 
he located there several years earlier. Lyman C. Draper, in his 
"King's Mountain and Its Heroes," says: "Rees Bowen was born 
in Maryland about 1742. He first emigrated to what is now Rock- 
bridge county, Virginia, and, in 1769, to the waters of Clinch, in 
what is now Tazewell County." The question of when the first 
settlers came to the Clinch Valley, and also the earliest known visits 
of hunting parties will be discussed more fully in subsequent pages 
of this volume. 



238 History of Tazewell County 

The route used by the pioneers as they journeyed from New 
River to the Clinch Valley is well defined. It was the same trail 
that was made by herds of buffalo as they traveled to and from the 
regions east of the Alleghanies ; and had, no doubt, been trodden 
many times by hunting and war parties of Indians. Coming from 
the east, the first settlers crossed New River at a ford opposite 
Ripplemead, a station of the Norfolk & Western Railway, about one 
mile below where Walker's Creek empties into New River. A ferry 
was established just above the ford by the Snidows in the pioneer 
days; and the log dwelling of Colonel Christian Snidow, built in 
1793, is still standing on the east side of the river, opposite Ripple- 
mead. A splendid steel bridge now spans the stream at the ford 
our ancestors used when they crossed the river. From thence they 
followed the Walker's Creek Valley to where the Kimberling branch 
of that creek joins the main stream in the present Bland County. 
Then they followed Kimberling Creek to its source, crossed over the 
divide into what has since been known as the "Wilderness," and 
through that forest to Rocky Gap. Passing through the Gap they 
came up the Clear Fork of Wolf Creek to the divide, six miles east 
of the present town of Tazewell; and traveling on one mile came to 
the head spring of the south fork of the historic Clinch. Tradition, 
uniformly, tells us that this was the route traveled by the pioneers 
when they came here. 

It is a very reasonable supposition that most of the first set- 
tlers came on tours of inspection and investigation before they 
moved their families out. Thomas Witten had been living with his 
large family for a year, or more, within fifty miles of the place 
where he ultimately located; and it is almost certain that he and 
his oldest sons made trips of exploration to the Clinch before they 
moved here. His selection of the "Crabapple Orchard" tract for 
his home, the choicest bit of land on the Clinch, that had been sur- 
veyed by Colonel John Buchanan for John Shelton in 1750, and 
where Bickley says a hunter had built a cabin and cleared a patch 
for corn, is very strong proof that Thomas Witten knew precisely 
where he was going when he started out from his temporary home on 
Walker's Creek. The very judicious selection of land made by the 
other first settlers shows that thej' had been on the ground before, 
or had received reports from some person pretty familiar with the 
country. Absalom Looney told James Moore of the splendid land he 
could find in Abb's Valley, and the route he should follow to get 
there; and Moore abandoned his home in Rockbridge County, tlien 



and Southwest Virginia 239 

Augusta^ and took up his residence where, a few years later, he met 
a tragic death at the hands of the Sliawnee Indians. 

It required wonderful fortitude, perseverance and physical 
vigor for women and children to make the journey from the former 
homes of the emigrants to the Clinch Valley. From New River to 
the points where they located on the Clinch the route was through 
an unbroken wilderness, and so rugged that it was difficult to travel 
on foot or horseback. Most of the early settlers seem to have been 
pretty well supplied with horses ; and it is likely that the women and 
children rode on horseback, and that the few necessary household 
articles were transported on pack-horses. The men and boys walked, 
with their rifles on their shoulders, ready for instant use if an enemy, 
man or beast, appeared. It is probable that some of the settlers 
brought cows along with their families, as they knew of the rich 
herbage that was found in the Clinch Valley. The wild pea vine 
then grew abundantly in the forests ; and in places where the forest 
was free from brush, and in the open places along the streams, the 
native bluegrass grew in sufficient abundance to furnish good pas- 
turage for horses and kine. Bickley, in writing of the hunters who 
frequented the Clinch Valley before the advent of the pioneer set- 
tlers, and who brought with them a number of pack-horses to take 
home their peltry, says: "Pasturage for their horses was to be 
found everywhere; and game in such abundance, that plenty and 
good cheer were their companions from the time they left their 
homes, till their return." 

Owing to the very meagre transportation facilities they pos- 
sessed, each and every family had to exercise great care in selecting 
the amount and the character of the baggage they brought with them 
to their backwoods homes. The supply of bedding and clothing was 
reduced to a minimum — barely sufficient for protection from the cold 
and to keep their persons comfortably and decently clad- — these 
articles being of the plainest and most inexpensive kind. A modern 
housewife would be shocked and disgusted if she were called upon 
to begin housekeeping with the few and simple things the pioneer 
mothers brought with them in the way of house and kitchen furnish- 
ings. These consisted of iron kettles, frying pans, pewter spoons 
and, maybe, a few pewter platters, and in some instances a few 
steel knives and forks; but the tableware was mostly made of wood, 
hand-made and home-made, such things as bowls, trenchers, platters 
and noggins. Crockery and chinaware did not make their appear- 



240 History of Tazewell County 

ance on the Clinch until some years after the pioneers had estab- 
lished their homes in Tazewell. 

The man who was the head of a family had to assume and exer- 
cise a triune personality, that of fai*mer, of mechanic, and of hun- 
ter; and on occasion a fourth was added, that of warrior. Every 
acre, yes, every foot of land he wished to prepare for use had to be 
cleared of giant forest trees and thick undergrowth. This was done 
with an axe, wielded by his brawney arms, and the land was culti- 
vated by him and his family with hoes and such other crude imple- 
ments as he could improvise. In the role of mechanic he had to be 
a "Jack-of-all-trades", making wooden vessels for domestic use, 
rough besteads, cupboards, tables, stools, a loom, shoes and moc- 
casins from buckskins and other animal hides, sometimes the raw 
hide. His list of tools was very limited — a drawing knife, broadaxe, 
tomahawk, a tool to i-ive clapboards to cover his cabin and corn- 
crib and stable, and possibly an auger and a handsaw. With these 
tools he accomplislied wonders as a carpenter. With awl, needle and 
waxed thread he, or his wife, made the moccasins for himself and 
family from buckskin he had dressed in the Indian style. 

As a hunter the pioneer settler had great responsibility upon 
him, for his wife and children were dependent upon his skill and 
success for tlieir supply of meat, generally venison and bear's flesh ; 
and frequently for a substitute for bread. The grain would some- 
times give out before the new crop was ready for food, and the 
breasts of pheasants and wild turkeys were used as substitutes for 
bread. The pioneer virtually made conquest, of this great country 
with the backwoodsman's axe and his trusty rifle. Men, boys, 
women, and even girls could and did use, effectively, when occasion 
demanded, these indispensible weapons of the pioneer. 

The pioneers brought with them good supplies of salt, but they 
soon found that this mineral, so essential to the health and com- 
fort of both man and beast, could be made at the Salt Lick on the 
North Fork of the Holston River; and from the time they obtained 
this knowledge until the Saltworks was acquired by the Mathieson 
Alkali Company, the people of the Clinch Valley got ample supplies 
from that place. There was another article of food, now considered 
a great luxury, that the pioneers did not have to bring from the east, 
but could make at home — that was sugar. In every valley, and in 
the mountain hollows, the Tazewell pioneers found magnificent 
groves of sugar maple. Every settler had his "sugar orchard" ; and 
in the late winter or early spring he would tap his "sugar trees" 



^ -f.?^ f ^^1 and Southwest Virginia 211 

and make an abundant supply of sugar and "tree molasses" for his 
family needs for the ensuing year. 

Seed corn was brought out by the falliers and seeds of ditVtrtiil 
kinds of vc u,etablcs — bcans^ potatoes, scjuasli^ Uiniip, eaMiagi' aiu! 
others seed- — by the provident mothers, wlio in those days loolc luosL 
interest in Llie garden or "tniek patch." The settlers moved tluir 
families to Llicir new homes in the early sjiring season. No doubt 
the trees 1: .d been belted in the winter time so as to keep the s;»p 
from rising' when spring came, and thus prevent the trees frmn 
leafing. The clearings were made by chopping down the large trees 
about the . .tes of the houses to be erected anil using the logs f(.r 
the buildings. On the adjacent grounil the large trees were belted, 
the saplings cut down and the brush grubbed out; th.c brush and 
saplings w. re then burned or removed, and tlie loose rich soil was 
easily prepared for seeding. 

After tiie pioneer had planted his first crop of corn and vege- 
tables there had to be endured by him and his family weeks and 
months of anxious expectancy as to what the harvest would be. 
They had .several reasons for apprehending that th.e most impor^.•u^t 
crop, the ^orn, might be a failure. Bears and other wild beasls 
might destroj' or materially injure it; a \uA dry season might come 
and cause Llie blades to fa-e and the shoots to pareh and not maturt"; 
and, then, 'Jack Frost" in those days made early visits and got in 
his work of destruction. The supplies of et)rn brought from the 
eastern scLtlcments, by early summer, were generally cxliaustcd, 
and the com pone, though always a necessity, became a luxury. If 
the season proved favorable, wlun the early vegetables came in much 
relief was given; and when the corn reached the "roasting ear" 
stage the event was welcomed with shouts of joy by tlie ehililren 
and the grown-up folks alilce. This condition of .searcily,. or Ihre.nt- 
ened scarcity, of bread continued for several years after the first 
settlers arrived, a notable instance occurring in the Clinch Valley 
while Duiiinore's War was in progress, in 177i. 



The first settlers usually came in groups, or located in groups 

after they arrived; and fixed their homes jn sueii immediate nearness 

as would enable them to be of service to each other in times of stress. 

TJ)is established a community of interest in a social atui eeontjuiic 

sense; and was of the utmost importante ;i> a means of protection 

against the attacks of hostile Indians. The home of a settler, ecu- 
T.H.— -IG 



242 



History of Tazewell County 



trally locaUnl. vas selected in each neiglihorhood, where all the 
families in the \ it-inity could lice for protection when the Indians 
iiiadi- lioslilc iiu '.ir.sions into the country. At these central ])oints 
forts were built, where safety was assured all who i^'ot there before 
the Imlians niaii.- surprise attacks on their cabin homes. The (Irst 
forts built in tin Upper Clinch Valley were, Thomas \\'itten's fort 
al tin' C'r.'.b Or. hard, near Pisj^ah ; Rccs IJowen's fort at Maiden 
Spiiiii;-; aiul William Wynne's fort, at Locust Hill. Tiic latter v/a.s 








The flair in (■••litre of jiicturc! .shows whert 'i'lioma.s Wittcn built !iis 
fiMt wlien the lu.'stiie Indians l)ei;';'.a to in\:i(!j the Clinch Valley settle- 
ments. 

loc-altd on Ihc )V)int just west of iMr. Gcorye A. Martin's rcjitlence, 
one ;mu1 a ialf miles east of Tazewell. 'I'hesc three were community 
forts and were ^■^:ry similar in form and construction. Indeed they 
were like all such p'aces of refuse and defence as were at that time, 
or afterwards, erected on the frontiers of the English colonies. 
Ilooseselt, wlio carefully investigated all tiiat was written by the 
earliest writers about the old frontier forts, gives a description of 
tlirm in his "Winning of tlie West." He says, llicy were: "A 
s(juarc palisade ol U]jvight logs, loo[)-lioIed, with strong bloi'k houses 
as batitions al the corners. One side at least was generally formed 
by the back of the cabins themseh'cs, all standing in a row; and 
tiii're v,;is a gn-.n <\>io : or gate, that cc.uld bi; strongly barred in ease 
oi' need. Oltcn no ii-on whatever was employed in any of the build- 



and Southwest Virginia 243 

ings. The square inside contained the provision sheds and fre- 
quently a strong central block house as well. These forts, of course, 
could not stand against cannons ; and they were always in danger 
when attacked with fire ; but save for tliis risk of burning they were 
very effectual defences against men without artillery, and were 
rarely taken, whether by whites or Indians, except by surprise." 

There were no attacks made by the Indians on the Witten or 
Wynne forts, and none upon the fort at Maiden Spring, although a 
small band of Shawnees on one occasion, in the absence of Rees 
Bowen, threatened to make an assault on his fort, but were pre- 
vented from so doing by a clever ruse practiced by Mrs. Bowen, 
who was as fearless and resourceful as her husband. The families 
of each settlement went to their community fort when Indian wars 
came on, and remained there until the war was ended, or until winter 
arrived. The Indians made no incursions in the winter time, when 
the forests were denuded of foilage, or snow might fall and reveal 
their presence in the settlements. 

When, the first detachments of settlers came to the Clinch Valley 
the Indians in Ohio and in Tennessee were at peace with the Vir- 
ginians ; and the relation continued friendly until Dunmore's War 
began in 1774. This gave our ancestors several years of opportunity 
to build their houses unmolested and extend their clearings deeper 
into the forests. It also made effective the social and economic 
features of the plan adopted by the settlers for grouping their homes 
around and about some central point. And when the war commenced 
there was ample existing evidence that the Tazewell pioneers had 
utilized the years of peace very well, as they wei*e in a condition to 
not only defend their own settlements, but to furnish substantial 
assistance in the military campaign against the Shawnees and other 
hostile tribes in Ohio. The houses they built to dwell in were notli- 
ing more jDretentious than log cabins. Some had only a single room, 
while others were double cabins. Roos-^.velt, in "Winning of the 
West", gives a very accurate description of the houses and their 
furnishings that were built and occupied by the backwoodsmen. 
Mr. Roosevelt got this description from the celebrated McAfee MSS, 
and its accuracy is undoubted. Roosevelt says: 

"If he was poor his cabin was made of unhewn logs, and held 
but a single room; if well-to-do, the logs were neatly hewed, and 
besides the large living and eating-room with its huge stone fire- 
place, there was also a small bedroom and a kitchen, while a ladder 



244 



History of Tazewell County 



led to the loft above, in which the boys slept. The floor was made 
of puncheons, great slabs of wood hewed carefully out, and the 
roof of clapboards. Pegs of wood were thrust into the sides of 
the house, to serve instead of a wardrobe; and buck antlers, thrust 
into the joists, held the ever ready rifles. The table was a great 
clapboard set on four wooden legs; there were three-legged stools, 
and in the better sort of houses old-fashioned rocking chairs. The 
couch or bed was warmly covered with blankets, bear-skins and deer- 
hides." ; 




Shown above is the oldest standing house in Tazewell County. It 
was built during the Revolution by John Witten, eldest son of Thomas 
Witten, and stands in the yard of John C. St. Clair, four miles west of 
the town of Tazewell, and is an excellent type of the pioneer cabin. 

All the early settlers knew that in the making of their new 
homes self-help must be their chief reliance; but they also realized 
that what they, i.s families, would do could be greatly added to by 
the families of a community helping each other. From this idea of 
community interest excellent results came; and from it originated 
the old-time log-rollings, house-raisings, house-warmings, corn- 
shuckings, quiltings and sugar-stirrings. All these were affairs of 
utility and were made joyous festive occasions. They served to 
unite the pioneers of the Clinch Valley in the strong bonds of neigh- 
borly kindness and fellowship, engendering a spirit which was trans- 
mitted in such measure to their descendants as to make the hospi- 



and Southwest Virginia 245 

tality, clanship, and fidelity of the sons of Tazewell proverbial. On 
such occasions the men, women and children of some particular 
neighborhood would assemble and do more useful work for a single 
family in a day than such a family could accomplish unassisted in 
several weeks, or possibly months. These gatherings were made 
delightful social and festive affairs. The mothers and daughters, 
who were the hostesses, would be happily assisted by the mothers 
and girls of the neighborhood in preparing a bounteous repast for 
the men who were engaged in the log-rolling, or the house-raising, or 
whatever work was being done. 

At meal time the tables would fairly groan beneath the abund- 
ance of meats, of such variety that they would make a modern 
gourmand chuckle with delight, if he could have a chance to par- 
take of similar viands. There would be bear and venison steaks 
and roasts, wild turkeys, pheasants, and other small game, prepared 
in a homely way, but deliciously fragrant and appetizing. For 
bread they had the wonderful "Johnny Cake" and the corn pone, 
the making of which is now a lost art, the one baked on a clean 
board before a blazing log fire, the other baked in an iron oven on 
the stone hearth. They had no tea or coffee on the frontier in those 
days, but in most instances had plenty of rich milk, given by cows 
that grazed on the pea vine and blue grass ; and plenty of sparkling 
water that gushed from the springs that were found near every cabin 
home; and these were served to the hearty log-rollers and house- 
raisers by the wives and their rosy-cheeked daughters. Nor had 
they any desserts at their feasts, worth mentioning, as wheat and 
flour had not yet been introduced; for there were no mills in the 
region but small hand mills that were used for grinding the corn. 
Few persons now living have been so fortunate as to eat meats and 
other foods similar to those of which the first settlers had an abund- 
ance, prepared as the pioneer women cooked them. The author in 
his boyhood days sometimes ate vension steaks, the Johhny Cake, 
and the corn pone prepared by the old-time cooks that had been 
trained by the pioneer mothers or their daughters. Nothing in 
modern cookery is half as delicious to me as those things that were 
prepared by "Aunt Trec)'^," the negro cook that was trained by my 
grandmother Cecil. 

At the log-rollings, house-raisings and corn-sliuckings it was the 
custom of the men to divide into "sides" to see which division could 
accomplish the most work in a given time, or for the day — each side 
having a captain to direct its movements. This caused the work to 



246 History of Tazewell County 

progress more rapidly^ as each side put forth its full strength to be 
first in the contest. At the quiltings the women would frequently 
divide into parties and work from opposite sides to see which would 
first reach the centre of the quilt. I attended several corn-shuckings 
when I was a boy, and greatly enjoyed witnessing the jolly shuckers 
work and hearing them sing. These shuckings were held at night, 
and a bountiful supper was always spread and eaten after the work 
was completed. And when I was a little fellow my mother fre- 
quently took me to quilting parties given by her neighbors ; and she 
had many quilting parties herself, that I remember. I always 
enjoyed the good dinners and took childish interest in the innocent 
gossip of the ladies. 

A description of the apparel of the pioneer men and women 
has been given by Theodore Roosevelt in his "Winning of the West" 
and also by Dr. Bickley in his History of Tazewell County. Their 
accounts are strikingly similar, and were procured from early 
writers, who wei-e familiar with frontier life. Roosevelt says: "The 
backwoodsman's dress was in great part borrowed from his Indian 
foes. He wore a fur cap or felt hat, moccasins, and either loose, 
thin trousers, or else simple leggings of buckskin or elk-hide, and the 
Indian breech-clout. He was always clad in the fringed hunting- 
shirt, of homespun or buckskin, the most picturesque and distinc- 
tively national dress ever worn in America. It was a loose smock or 
tunic, reaching nearly to the knees, and held in at the waist by a 
broad belt, from which hung the tomahawk and scalping-knife. 
His weapon was the long small-bore, flint-lock rifle, clumsy, and 
ill-balanced, but exceedingly accurate. It was very heavy, and 
when upright reached to the chin of a tall man; for the barrel of 
thick, soft iron, was four feet in length, while the stock was short 
and the butt scooped out. Sometimes it was plain, sometimes orna- 
mented. It was generally box*ed out — or, as the expression then was, 
'sawed-out' — to carry a ball of seventy, more rarely of thirty or 
forty, to the pound; and was usually of backwoods manufacture. 
The marksman almost always fired from a rest, and rarely at a ver)'' 
long range; and the shooting was marvelously accurate." 

The gun described by Colonel Roosevelt was one of Daniel 
Boone's rifles, which, according to an inscription on the barrel, was 
made at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1782, by M. Humble. Prior to 
the Civil War (1861-65) a number of rifles of similar pattern could 
be found in Tazewell County, and there are some still here. 



and Southwest Virginia 247 

Garbed in hunting shirts, with tomahawk and scalping knives 
sheathed in their belts, and armed with rifles like Boone's, a number 
of the pioneers from the Clinch, under command of Captain Russell, 
were with General Andrew Lewis at the battle of Point Pleasant ; 
and the gallant Lieutenant Rees Bowen, with his company of sterl- 
ing patriots similarly garbed and equipped, marched with Campbell 
to King's Mountain, and in the battle there placed Tazewell's name 
on the scroll of fame. 

In the days of the American Revolution the rifles of the men 
from the mountain frontiers made the American guns famous. Gen- 
eral Howe, a British general, called them "the terrible guns of the 
rebels." A recent supposed authority on gims and projectiles has 
written: "In the colonial days the residents of the Atlantic sea- 
board were the greatest users of guns of their period, and g"un- 
maker's shops were in every city and town. With little knowledge 
of ballistics, these men perfected the American rifle that was a factor 
of great moment in the revolution when wielded by the sharp-shoot- 
ing keen-eyed men of the colonies." 

The guns that were made and used on the Atlantic seaboard 
about the time of the Revolution were principally of the smooth-bore 
style, while the guns used by the men of the mountain sections were 
universally rifles after the Boone type; and Roosevelt says this 
kind of gun "was usually of backwoods manufacture". It was 
perfected by the gunraakers of the movmtains and not in the gun- 
maker's shops in the seaboard towns. Rifles made in the mountains 
of Virginia, in the hands of Daniel Morgan's riflemen won the battle 
at Saratoga and at the Cow Pens, and caused General Howe to 
speak of "the terrible guns of the rebels." The Mountain riflemen 
from the Clinch and Holston valleys, with their trusty mountain 
rifles, under the command of the mountain general, William Camp- 
bell, won the battle at King's Mountain and turned the scale for the 
colonies in the War of the Revolution. 

The dress of the pioneer women was limited in the kind of gar- 
ments used and was of the coarsest and cheapest quality. Roosevelt 
says the outfit of a well-to-do bride was "not very elaborate, for 
a woman's dress consisted of a hat or poke bonnet, a 'bedgown, 
perhaps a jacket, and a linsey petticoat, while her feet were thrust 
into coarse shoepacks or moccasins". Bickley in his chapter on 
"Manners and Customs" of the first settlers, quoting from Dr. Dod- 
dridge, says: "Linsey coats and bedgowns were the universal dress 
of the women in the early times." Dr. Bickley thinks this was an 



248 History of Tazewell County 

excellent description of the dress of the women who first came to the 
Clinch Valley; and he follows this adoption of the Doddridge 
description with the following statement as to the resourcefulness 
and industry of the pioneer women: 

"The garments made in Augusta, Botetourt and other older set- 
tlements, had worn out, and a different material was brought into 
use. The weed now known among us as wild nettle (Urtica dioica), 
then furnished the material which served to clothe the persons of 
our sires and dames. It was cut down while yet green, and treated 
much in the same manner in which flax is now treated. The fibrous 
bark, with the exception of the shortness of the fibers, seemed to be 
adapted to the same uses. When this flax, if I may so term it, was 
prepared, it was mixed with buffalo hair and woven into a substan- 
tial cloth, in which men and women were clothed. It is a true maxim 
'necessity is the mother of invention.' " 



In the introductory paragraphs of his chapter on the "Manners 
and Customs" of the pioneers. Dr. Bickley made an apology for the 
crude state of society that prevailed among the first settlers. This 
apology was unnecessary, and was based upon what I believe was a 
false interpretation of the customs and habits of our pioneer ances- 
tors. Tazewell's first historian says: 

"I must ask such sons and daughters of the noble people whose 
habits form a theme of my pen, who are either vain or proud, to 
forgive me for exhibiting their fathers and mothers, in such a light 
as I necessarily must. I, too, am of these people, and hope I am 
as sensitive of my ancestors as the vainest or the proudest. 

"The people of all mountain countries have some customs pecu- 
liarly their own. The same pastoral simplicity which characterizes 
the people of the Scotch highlands, the mountainous regions of 
Europe, and the hill country of ancient Judea, may be clearly traced. 
The same industry, love for stock, determination to be free, hatred 
of oppression, jDure sentiment, etc., are found here." 

Following this apology, Bickley quotes from Doddridge's "Set- 
tlements and Indian Wars" a lengthy description of a wedding in 
the pioneer days, of which he declares "a more faithful picture could 
not be drawn." Though it does not justify an apology for the sup- 
posed unrefined customs of our pioneer ancestors, it is the only 
description of a frontier wedding written by an eye witness ; and I 
will reproduce it. Doddridge says: 



and Southwest Virginia 249 

"For a long time after the first settlement of this country the 
inhabitants in general married young. There was no distinction of 
rank, and very little of fortune. On these accounts, the first impreS'- 
sion of love resulted in marriage, and a family establishment cost 
but little labor, and nothing else. A description of a wedding from 
beginning to end will serve to show the manners of our forefathers, 
and mark the grade of civilization which has succeeded to their rude 
state of society in the course of a few years. 

"In the first years of the settlement of a country, a wedding 
engaged the attention of the whole neighborhood ; and the frolic was 
anticipated by old and young, with eager expectation. This is not 
to be wondered at, when it is told that a wedding was almost the 
only gathering which was not accompanied with the labor of reap- 
ing, log-rolling, building a cabin, or planning some scout or cam- 
paign. On the morning of the wedding-day, the groom and his 
attendants assembled at the house of his father, for the purpose of 
reaching his bride by noon, which was the usual time for celebrating 
the nuptials ; and which, for certain reasons, must take place before 
dinner. 

"Let the reader imagine an assemblage, without a store, tailor, 
or mantua-maker, within a hundred miles ; an assemblage of horses, 
without a blacksmith or saddler within an equal distance. The 
gentlemen dressed in shoepacks, moccasins, leather breeches, leg- 
gings, linsey hunting shirts, and all home-made. The ladies dressed 
in linsey petticoats, and linsey or linen bedgowns, coarse shoes, 
stockings, handkerchiefs, and buckskin gloves, if any. If there 
were any buckles, rings, buttons or ruffles, they were the relics of 
olden times; family pieces from parents or grandparents. The 
horses were caparisoned with old saddles, old bridles or halters, 
and pack-saddles, with a bag or a blanket thrown over them ; a rope 
or a string as often constituted the girth as a piece of leather. 

"The march in double file was often interrupted by the narrow- 
ness of our mountain paths, as they were called, for we had no 
roads; and these difficulties were often increased, sometimes by the 
good, and sometimes by the ill-will of the neighbors, by falling 
trees, and tying grape-vines across the way. Sometimes an ambus- 
cade was formed by the wayside, and an unexpected discharge of 
several guns took place, so as to cover the wedding company with 
smoke. Let the reader imagine the scene which followed this dis- 
charge; the sudden spring of the horses, the shrieks of the girls. 



250 History of Tazewell County 

and the chivalrous bustle of their partners to save them from fall- 
ing. Sometimes, in spite of all that could be done to prevent it, 
some were thrown to the ground. If a wrist, elbow, or ankle hap- 
pended to be sprained, it was tied up with a handkerchief, and little 
more was said or thought about it. 

"The ceremony of the marriage preceded the dinner, which was 
a substantial backwoods' feast of beef, pork, fowls, and sometimes 
venison and bear meat, roasted and boiled, with plenty of potatoes, 
cabbage and other vegetables. During the dinner, the greatest 
hilarity always prevailed; although the table might be a large slab 
of timber, hewed out with the broadaxe, supported by four sticks, 
set in auger holes ; and the furniture, some old pewter dishes and 
plates; the rest, wooden bowls and trenchers: a few pewter spoons, 
much battered about the edges, were to be seen at some tables. The 
rest were made of horn. If knives were scarce, the deficiency Avas 
made up by the scalping knives, which were carried in sheaths, sus- 
pended to the belt of the hunting-shirt, every man carried one of 
them. 

"After dinner the dancing commenced, and generally lasted until 
the next morning. The figures of the dances were three and four 
handed reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement was always 
a square form, which was followed by what was called jigging it off; 
that is, two of the four would single out for a jig, and were fol- 
lowed by the remaining couples. The jigs were often accompanied 
with what was called cutting out ; that is, when either of the parties 
became tired of the dance, on intimation, the place was supplied by 
some one of the company, without any interi-uption to the dance. In 
this way the dance was continued vmtil the musician was heartily 
tired of his situation. Toward the latter part of the night, if any 
of the company, through weariness, attempted to conceal themselves 
for the purpose of sleeping, they were hunted up, paraded on the 
floor, and the fiddler ordered to play 'hang out till to-morrow 
morning.' 

"About nine or ten o'clock a deputation of young ladies stole off 
the bride, and put her to bed. In doing this, it frequently happened 
that they had to ascend a ladder, instead of a pair of stairs, leading 
from the dining room and ball room to tlie loft, the floor of which was 
made of clap-boards, lying loose. This ascent, one might think, 
would put the bride and her attendants to the blush; but the foot 
of the ladder was commonly behind the door, which was purposely 
opened for the occasion, and its rounds, at the irmer ends, were 



and Southwest Virginia 251 

well hung with hunting-shirts, dresses and other articles of clothing. 
The candles, being on the opposite side of the house, the exit of the 
Bride was noticed by but few. 

"This done, a deputation of young men, in like manner, stole oif 
the groom, and placed him snugly by the side of his bride. The 
dance still continued; and if seats happened to be scarce, as was 
often the case, every young man, when not engaged in the dance, 
was obliged to offer his lap as a seat for one of the girls ; and the 
offer was sure to be accepted. In the midst of this hilarity, the 
bride and groom were not forgotten. Pretty late in the night, some 
one would remind the company that the new couple must stand in 
need of some refreshment; black Betty, which was the name of the 
bottle, was called for and sent up the ladder; but sometimes black 
Betty did not go alone. I have many times seen as much bread, beef, 
pork and cabbage sent along, as would afford a good meal for half 
a dozen hungry men. The young couple were compelled to eat and 
drink, more or less of whatever was offered. 

"But to return. It often happened that some neighbors or rela- 
tives, not being asked to the wedding, took offense; and the mode of 
revenge, adopted by them on such occasions, was that of cutting off 
the manes, foretops, and tails of the horses of the wedding company. 

"On returning to the in-fare, the order of procession, and the 
race for black Betty, was the same as before. The feasting and 
dancing often lasted several days, at the end of which, the whole 
company were so exhausted with loss of sleep, that many days' rest 
were requisite to fit tliem to return to their ordinary labors." 

Bickley makes further explanation and ajDology for adopting the 
Doddridge wedding story by saying: "I have quoted this account, 
written by Dr. Doddridge, because nothing could be more correct, 
and it was beyond my power to tell an original tale so well." 

Dr. Doddridge's description is, no doubt, highly colored, as the 
border annalists were as prone to indulge in hyperbole as the most 
brilliant modem war correspondent. The kind of weddings the 
author of "Settlements and Indian Wars" describes did sometimes 
occur in the backwoods ; but they were exceptional, and should not 
have been adopted as a type for illustrating the manners and habits 
of our forefathers and foremothers. Occasional weddings of the 
Doddridge kind may have taken place in the Clinch Valley in the 
early days after its settlement; but I doubt if any such occurred in 
the families of the pioneers. The first settlers on the Clinch were 



252 History of Tazewell County 

dignified, sober-minded men and women, intent upon accomplishing 
a great work, that of erecting happy and useful homes. They were 
descended from ancestors who sought asylum in America to escape 
religious and political persecutions, and their children, the first 
generation born in Tazewell, were as dignified and refined as any 
persons now in the land. I knew quite a number of them in my 
childhood and boyhood, and speak from actual knowledge. 

The sons and daughters of the pioneers married while they were 
very young, frequently before the boys were twenty-one, and when 
the girls were in their early teens. They inlierited and possessed 
but little of the world's goods to begin their married life with. 
The groom would have a horse, an axe, and his rifle, the latter was 
given each boy when he became twelve years old ; and in case of an 
invasion by the Indians he was expected to, and did, fill a man's 
place at a loophole. And the bride, if she had been industrious and 
helpful, and her parents were thrifty, would have for her dowry 
a brood-mare, a cow, a bed well furnished with blankets, quilts and 
woolen coverlets — the latter woven by herself or her mother — and 
a chest for her clothes. These chests took the place of trunks, as 
there were no trunks in those days. They were always made from 
cedar or black walnut, were neat in appearance, and were capacious 
and useful. My mother had one, which was given her by her 
parents, and it is still an heirloom in the family. 

There was, however, an abundance of fertile land still unoc- 
cupied and unclaimed, from which the 3'oung married man could 
select four hundred acres, and acquire title thereto under the liberal 
settler's laws then existing in Virginia. After he had selected, and 
possibly marked out with his tomahawk, the boundary he wished to 
occupy, he and his bride would choose a location for their future 
residence. Then the community custom and feeling, that had been 
happily planted in the beginning of the settlement, would assert 
itself in most generous form. All the men of the neighborhood 
would assemble where the new house was to be built; and they 
would chop the logs and roll them to the proposed site of the build- 
ing, with their broadaxes they would hew and notch the logs, and 
raise the house for the young housekeepers. As soon as the chimney 
was built and the roof of clapboards was placed, the festal joys of 
a house-warming, witli all the social forms of the wedding, were 
extended by the young housekeepers to their kindred and neighbors. 
Thus were the homes of the sons and daughters of the pioneers 
established and the community made stronger and better by the 



and Southwest Virginia 253 

addition of other families. Race suicide was then an unheard of 
thing in this glorious mountain country; and the Biblical injunction, 
"multiply and replenish the earth" had not become obsolete. The 
man cheerfully assumed his duties of armed protector of his wife 
and children and provider for the family, and the woman, as house- 
wife and child-bearer, with smiling contentment, carried her many 
cares and burdens. 

In some respects it was a lonely and monotonous, as well as 
dangerous, life our ancestors led when they first moved into this 
wild, uninhabited region; but there were many things to stimulate 
and interest those who were brave, intelligent and industrious. 
They were constantly experiencing thrills that came from contacts 
with the ferocious animals that lurked in every mountain hollow and 
valley; and from the still more exciting experiences that came from 
actual or anticipated encounters with hostile Indians. And there 
was an excitement, intense and pleasurable, in their task of home- 
making. There is no greater pleasure to normal men and women 
than the work of making a home, where they can be surrounded by 
their children, and enjoy the comforts and beautiful things that are 
the products of honest, earnest toil. What a delight it must have 
been to our ancestors. Like happy birds building nests for their 
young were the men as they felled the trees and built their cabins; 
and the good women, no doubt, would joyfully sing the old-time 
songs, in rivalry of the love-songs of their feathered neighbors, as 
they placed in position their modest household possessions. 

There was still another exciting pleasure enjoyed by the pioneers, 
as hunters. It combined both business and amusement. At the 
time the first settlements were made, the Clinch Valley was the 
most cherished hunting ground of the Shawnee and Cherokee 
Indians. Both of these tribes were very jealous of its appropriation 
by white men; and, as rival claimants to the territory, had engaged 
in many bloody contests for its possession. 

Tliough hunting parties from Eastern Virginia, known as "Long 
Hunters", had been visiting the Clinch Valley regularly for nearly 
twenty years previous to the advent of the pioneers, and had killed 
thousands of splendid animals for their' valuable hides; and, though 
the Indians had made frequent journeys to this favorite hunting 
ground to procure supplies of meat for winter use, there was an 
abundance of deer, bears, and smaller game animals left here. 
Small herds of buffalo and a few elk also wandered in to graze upon 
the succulent herbage, the wild pea vine and the bluegrass, that 



254 History of Tazewell County 

was found in profusion everywhere; and it was truly a hunter's 
paradise for the first settlers. They hunted the animals I have 
mentioned chiefly for meat for their families ; but the skins were also 
of special value as they were used, together with the hides of the 
otter, beaver, mink, fox, and other fur-bearing animals, to buy 
powder and lead, iron and other necessary articles from merchants 
or dealers in the eastern part of Virginia. 

The pioneers were all expert hunters, or soon became expert 
after they reached the Clinch regions. They acquired all the tricks 
and arts used by the Indians to lure game within range of their 
rifles, imitating the call of the turkey, the howling of the wolf and 
the sounds and calls of other animals and fowls. The keen-eyed 
hunters could easily distinguish the marks or traces left by different 
kinds of game, and soon became familiar with the haunts of the 
deer, the elk, the bear, the wolf, and every kind of animal that 
abided or roamed in the region. All the men were successful hun- 
ters, but some won the distinction of experts. James Witten, son of 
Thomas Witten, the first settler, who was only fifteen years old 
when he came with his father to the Clinch Valley, soon after his 
arrival was admitted to be the most skillful hunter and woodsman 
in the settlements ; and in the time of the Revolutionary War he 
became the most noted and efficient scout in the entire region. Dr. 
Bickley, who obtained much valuable information directly from the 
sons of the pioneers, wrote in his History of Tazewell County the 
following interesting story of the accomplishments of the early 
woodsmen: 

"Neither was hunting the mere pastime, devoid of skill, which it 
now is. The hunter miglit be considered somewhat of a meteorol- 
ogist; he paid particular attention to the winds, rains, snows, and 
frosts; for almost every change altered the location of game. He 
knew the cardinal points by the thick bark and moss on the north 
side of a tree, so that during the darkest and most gloomy night 
he knew which was the north, and so his home or camp. The 
■natural habits of the deer were well studied; and hence he knew at 
what times they fed, etc. If, in hunting, he found a deer at feed, 
he stopped, and though he might be open to it, did not seek to 
obscure himself, but waited till it raised its head and looked at 
him. He remained motionless till the deer, satisfied that nothing 
moving was in sight, again commenced feeding. He tlien began-t-0 
advance, if he had the wind of it, and if not he retreated and casfte 



I 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 255 

up another way, so as to place the deer between himself and the 
wind. As long as the deer's head was down he continued to advance 
till he saw it shake the tail. In a moment he became the same 
motionless object, till it again put down its head. In this way, he 
would soon approach to within sixty yards, when his unerring rifle 
did the work of death. It is a curious fact that deer never put 
their heads to the groimd, or raise it, without shaking the tail 
before so doing. 

"The quantity of game will be apparent when it is known that 
Mr. Ebenezer Brewster killed, during his life, twelve hundred bears 
in this county. He died in the summer of 1850, and this statement 
occurred in an obituary notice." 

There was another famous hunter in Tazewell County who was 
a contemporary of Ebenezer Brester. I refer to 'Squire Thomas 
Peery. He was called "Squire Tommie" to distinguish him from 
a number of other Peerys who bore the name of Thomas. His 
father, William Peery, settled in 1773 where the town of Tazewell is 
now located, and he was born and reared near the site of the resi- 
dence of the late Albert P. Gillespie. He was a fine business man 
and acquired a splendid estate, but was an ardent hunter, bear- 
hunting being his special delight ; and he had a record for the num- 
ber of bears he killed that nearly equalled that of Ebenezer Brew- 
ster. If he had devoted more time to hunting and less to his personal 
affairs, he would, no doubt, have beaten Brewster's record. As it 
was, he had a record of more than a thousand bears and killed great 
numbers of deer and wolves. 

THE COUNTY OF FINCASTLE ESTABLISHED. 

When the county of Botetourt was established by an act of the 
General Assembly, passed November 28th, 1769, there were but few 
inhabitants in that portion of Virginia west of the New River, all 
of which section was made a part of the new county. They were so 
remote from the place where it was known the county seat was to 
be located that the act provided that the people "situated on the 
waters of the Mississippi," which included the few settlers in the 
Clinch Valley, "shall be exempted from the payment of levies, to be 
laid by the said county court for the purpose of building a county 
court-house and prison for the said county." Another important and 
substantial reason was recited in the act for the exemption of such 
inhabitants from the specified taxation. This reason was, that the 



256 History of Tazewell County 

people living on the waters of the Mississippi: "Must necessarily 
become a separate county, as soon as their numbers are sufficient, 
which will probably happen in a short time." 

The General Assembly was acquainted with the fact that many 
men with their families were on the borders, ready to cross New 
River and settle on the waters of the Mississippi — that is in the 
Clinch, Holston and New River valleys — and that some settlers 
had already moved out to the wilderness country. So, it was found 
necessary, in less than three years after Botetourt County was 
formed, to verify the prediction that a new county would have to 
be provided for the inhabitants living on the waters of the Missis- 
sippi west of New River. In the winter of 1771-72 the settlers 
of the Holston and New River valleys presented a petition to the 
General Assembly, setting forth the inconvenience arising from 
their remoteness from the county seat of Botetourt, and praying 
for the erection of a new county. Responding to this petition, the 
General Assembly, on the 8th day of April, 1772, enacted the fol- 
lowing : 

"I. Whereas it is represented to this present General Assembly, 
by the inhabitants and settlers on tlie waters of the Holston and 
New River in the county of Botetourt that they labour under great 
inconvenience, by reason of the extent of said county and their 
remote situation from the court house: 

"Be it therefore enacted, by the Council, and Burgesses of this 
present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority 
of the same, That from after the first day of December next, the 
said county of Botetourt shall be divided into two distinct counties, 
that is to say, all that part of the said county within a line to run 
up the east side of the New River to the mouth of Culberson's 
creek ; thence a direct line to the Catawba road, where it crosses 
the dividing ridge between the nortli fork of Roanoke and the waters 
of New River; thence with the top of the ridge to the bent where 
it turns eastwardly ; thence a south course, crossing Little River to 
the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains shall be established as one dis- 
tinct county and called and known by the name of Fincastle, and all 
the other part thereof, which lies to the east of the said line, shall 
be one other distinct county and retain the name of Botetourt." 

The act provided for a justices' court to be lield on the first 
Tuesday of every month after the county was regularly organized, 
and made provision for the usual county officers and public buildings, 



and Southwest Virginia 257 

but did not designate any location for the county seat. The Colonial 
Governor ordered that the county seat should be placed at the Lead 
Mines, in the present county of Wythe, and where the village of 
Austinville is now situated; and the name of the county, Fincastle, 
was received from the country seat of Lord Botetourt, in England. 

No reference is made in the act to the settlers on the Clinch 
River, and, apparently, none of the inhabitants of the Clinch Valley 
signed the petition. These omissions may have been caused by the 
fact that the Clinch Valley was then so inaccessible and isolated, 
that the men who promoted the scheme did not undertake to cross the 
mountains and present the petition to the settlers, who were scat- 
tered for more than seventy miles up and down the valley. At the 
time the petition was prepared and presented to the General 
Asesembly there must have been several hundred people living in 
the territory that now constitutes Tazewell County; and as many 
more were located lower down the Clinch, in the present counties of 
Russell and Scott. As early as 1770 there was quite a community of 
settlers in the present Castle's Woods neighborhood in Russell 

County. The men who formed that settlement were: 

Castle, from whom the place received its name; Henry Dickenson, 
Charles Bickley, Simon Oscher, James Bush, William Fraley, Arch- 
elous Dickenson, Humphrey Dickenson, James Osborn, William 
Richie, Jerry Harold, William Robertson, Richard Long, William 
Bowlin, William Russell, Samuel Porter, Henry Neece, Henry Ham- 
blin and William Wharton. 

John Murray, Fourth Earl of Dunmore, was then governor of 
the colony of Virginia ; and was the last royal governor Virginia 
had. On December the 1st, 1772, he issued a "Commission of 
Peace" appointing the justices who were to constitute the first 
county court of Fincastle County, as follows: William Preston, 
William Christian, Stephen Trigg, Walter Crockett, Anthony Bled- 
soe, Arthur Campbell, Benjamin Estill, William Inglis, Jolm Mont- 
gomery, Robert Doach, James McGavock, James Thompson, Wil- 
liam Russell, Samuel Crockett, Alexander McKee. 

William Russell, one of the above named justices, was from 
the Middle Clinch Valley. He then lived at or near Castle's Woods, 
where he erected a fort in 1774 on the land of one Cowan; and later 
he became very prominent in both the civil and military affairs of 
the Clinch Valley and of Southwest Virginia, as succeeding pages 
of this volume will disclose. The first county court for Fincastle 
was held at the Lead Mines on the 5th of January, 1773, with the 

T.H.— 17 



258 History of Tazewell County 

following members of the court present and sitting: Arthur Camp- 
bell, James Thompson, William Preston, William Ingles, W^alter 
Crockett and James McGavock. 

The court elected William Preston sheriff of the county; and 
Daniel Trigg, John Floyd, James Thompson, and Henry Moore 
were made his deputies. William Preston was also elected surveyor 
of the county, with the following as his deputies: John Floyd, 
Daniel Smith, William Russell, Robert Preston, Robert Doach, and 
James Douglas. Two of the deputy surveyors, Smith and Russell, 
were from the Clinch Valley, and were then living in the present 
county of Russell. 

John Byrd was elected clerk of the county, with W^illiam Chris- 
tian, Stephen Trigg, and Richard Madison for his deputies. John 
Aylett was elected King's Council, which completed the civil organ- 
ization of the county. 

From the showing of the records, it seems that the pioneer set- 
tlers of Tazewell County took no active part in the organization of 
the county of Fincastle. They were too busily occupied with the 
building of their homes, clearing their fields, and perfecting them- 
selves as woodsmen and frontier soldiers to give much heed to their 
civil connection with the Virginia Government. The upper Clinch 
settlements were then the extreme northwestern outposts of the 
terx-itory occupied by white men west of New River; and were 
directly at the front of three of the favorite war-paths, or trails, 
that the Shawnees traveled when they came to this section to hunt 
or make atacks upon the settlers. Being so perilously located, our 
ancestors on the Clinch were very wise in preparing to defend their 
homes and possessions against tlie attacks they apprehended were 
coming from the red men; and, in doing this, they were rendering a 
great service to the inhabitants of the Holston and New River val- 
leys by erecting a strong barrier for their protection from the 
Indians. 

When the first settlers came to Tazewell they knew they were 
taking a very serious risk of having their families suffer for a time 
from a lack of proper food; and they realized that a much graver 
danger would have to be met, that of having their dear Dues, and 
perhaps themselves, murdered by the Indians. The danger of any- 
one suffering for lack of substantial food, or other creature comforts, 
in the Clinch settlements had, apparently, disappeared by tiie time 
Fincastle County was established; but the perils from Indian inva- 



and Southwest Virginia 259 

sions had increased considerably, and, in fact, were imminent. For 
several years previous to 1773 the Northwestern Indians had been 
exhibiting marked hostility to the Fort Stanwix treaty, by which 
treaty the Iroquois Nation had assumed the right to cede all the 
hunting grounds south of the Ohio to the Dominion of Virginia ; and 
the Shawnees were greatly exasperated b}' the avowed purpose of 
the Virginians to extend their settlements along the Kanawha River 
and from its mouth on down into Kentucky. 

A number of prominent men, resident both east and west of the 
Blue Ridge, were anxious to secure large holdings of the splendid, 
fertile lands that were known to lie in the lower Kanawha Valley, 
along the southern banks of tlie Ohio, and in most of the sections of 
Kentucky, while the settlers in Clinch Valley were more than con- 
tent with what they had found here, and were intent upon holding 
the valuable territory they had already acquired. Among the then 
and subsequently distinguished men of Virginia who were seeking 
to locate large boundaries of land on the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, 
and in the territory of the present State of Kentucky, were : George 
Washington, Patrick Henry, William Byrd, Andrew Lewis, William 
Preston, William Russell, Arthur Campbell, and others. George 
Washington had already won a leading position in the citizenship 
of Virginia, and Patrick Henry had just emerged from thriftless 
obscurity and become famous as an orator and tribune of the people. 
Some of those who were eager to acquire lands in the unsettled 
territory were real home-seekers, a few were speculators who desired 
to accumulate large estates, and many were officers and soldiers who 
had obtained grants from the Virginia Government for valuable 
service rendered in the French and Indian War. 

Small exploring parties had visited the Kanawha, Ohio, and 
Kentucky regions in 1773, and had returned to the settlements in 
Virginia with glowing accounts of the wonderful fertility of the soil 
and the abundant resources of the unappropriated lands they had 
traversed. The Indians were well informed, through their spies 
and hunting parties, of these exploring expeditions ; and reasonably 
concluded that they were the precursors of an active movement of 
the white men to take complete control, for settlement, of the entire 
country south of the Ohio, and to drive the natives from their splen- 
did hunting grounds. Then began a series of outrages, committed 
by both the Indians and the whites, that brought a reign of terror to 
the borders; and the Tazewell pioneers had barely erected their 
• cabi» .homes when they were required tp enter into a desperate 



260 History of Tazewell County 

struggle with the most intrepid Indian warriors then living east of 
the Mississippi. 



Small bands of Shawnees began to make hostile incursions into 
the Lower Clinch Valley, and during the fall of 1773, according to 
reports of Colonel William Preston, county lieutenant of Fincastle 
County, eleven persons were murdered by the Indians in the county 
of Fincastle. The most notable of the outrages committed was the 
killing of James Boone, son of Daniel Boone; Henry Russell, son 

of Captain William Russell, and Drake, son of Captain 

Drake. Daniel Boone had collected a company of emigrants in 
North Carolina and from the Holston and Clinch valleys, and had 
started to Kentucky to establish a settlement. The three young 
men, or youths, had separated from the party to engage in hunting, 
and had secured a large number of valuable pelts which they 
intended to take to market. On October 10th, 1773, they were sur- 
prised and killed by a mixed party of Shawnees and Cherokees. It 
was thought that one Isaac Crabtree, a white desperado and outlaw, 
had provoked the attack; and that the three youths were murdered 
for purposes of robbery, as all their pelts and other belongings were 
stolen by the murderers. Daniel Boone abandoned his migration to 
Kentucky for the time being, and brought his party back to the 
Clinch and Holston valleys. He remained in this section throughout 
1774, and rendered very valuable assistance to the inhabitants of the 
Clinch Valley while Dunmore's War was in progress. 

Early in the spring of 1774 a number of surveying parties made 
their way to the Lower Kanawha Valley and to Kentucky, where 
they surveyed a number of large and valuable tracts of land, and' 
entered them in the names of the several persons who had employed 
them to do the work. Among the surveyors were: James Douglas, 
Hancock Taylor, Anthony Bledsoe, and John Floyd. The descend- 
ants of John Floyd have had so much to do with the making of the 
history of Tazewell County that it will be appropriate to give a 
brief sketch of the life and career of the pioneer surveyor, which 
I take from Thwaites' "Dunmore's War:" 

"John Floyd was born in Virginia in 1750, and when about 
twenty-two years of age removed to Fincastle County, and engaged 
in school-teaching, living in the home of Colonel William Preston. 
In 1774 he was appointed deputy sheriff {also deputy surveyor^ 
and in the spring of the same year led a surveying party, into Ken- , 



and Southwest Virginia 261 

tucky. Upon his return he joined the Point Point Pleasant expedi- 
tion, but arrived too late to engage in the battle. The following 
year he returned to Kentucky as surveyor of the Transylvania Com- 
pany and remained at St. Asaph's till the summer of 1776. Return- 
ing to Virginia he embarked on a privateering enterprise, was cap- 
tured, and spent a year in Dartmouth prison, England. Having 
effected an escape to France, Franklin aided him to return to 
America, where he married Jane Buchanan, a niece of Colonel Pres- 
ton, and in 1779 set out for his final emigration to Kentucky. There 
he built a station on Beargrass Creek, but was shot and mortally 
wounded by the Indians in 1783. His son John became governor of 
Virginia." 

Colonel George Washington had become greatly impressed with 
the future value of the lands on the lower Kanawha and in Kentucky. 
Very largely by his work and influence the government of Virginia 
had issued large grants to the colonial officers and soldiers who had 
served in the French and Indian War. Washington was anxious to 
secure patents for some 200,000 acres for himself and his fellow- 
officers and soldiers. He had been intimately associated with Col- 
onel William Preston during the French and Indian War, and had 
great confidence in Preston's business integrity and sagacity. This 
induced the future "Father of his Country", and a number of other 
distinguished Virginians who were associated with Jiim, to place 
the matter of locating their grants in the hands of Colonel Preston. 
At that time John Floyd was living at Colonel Preston's and was 
both deputy surveyor and deputy sheriff of Fincastle County; and 
he was selected to conduct a surveying party to Kentucky. 

On the 9th of April, 1774, Floyd started on his surveying expedi- 
tion, with eight men as his companions, whom he had collected 
together at Smithfield, the home of Colonel Preston, which was 
situated a short distance west of the present town of Blacksburg. 
One of the party, Thomas Hanson, kept a journal, in which he 
entered many interesting incidents connected with the expedition; 
but which, on account of its length, cannot be reproduced in its 
entirety in this volume. In the first entry Hanson says : 

"We left Col. Wm. Preston's in Fincastle County at one o'clock 
in high spirits, escorted by the Coin, three miles, eight of us being 
in company, viz Mr. John Floyd assistant surveyor, Mr. Douglas, 
Mr. Hite, Mr. Dandridge, Thos. Hanson James Nocks (Knox) 



262 History of Tazewell County 

Roderick McCra & Mordecai Batson. We traveled fifteen miles to 
John McGuffins-at Sinking Creek." 

Floyd's party, evidently, intended to follow practically the same 
route the Shawnees pursued in 1755, when they took Mrs. Ingles 
and the otlier captives from Draper's Meadows to the Indian towns 
in Ohio. They overtook Hancock Taylor, assistant surveyor, and 
his company of seven men on their sixth day out. On the eighth day 
they passed the Burning Spring, which was situated about fifteen 
miles above the present Charleston, West Virginia. This spring was 
then a pool of water, through which natural gas forced its way 
and kept burning, when ignited, over the surface of the water. 

On the 17th day of Ajoril the company, then seventeen men, came 
upon Major John Field and his jiarty of explorers, some nine or 
ten miles below the mouth of Elk Creek. Hanson says Major Field 
and his people "informed us, that the Indians had placed themselves 
on both sides of the Ohio, and that they intended war." 

The 19th of April, Floyd and his party saw Thomas Hogg, who 
was improving a river bottom for cultivation, and Hanson recorded 
in his journal: "Mr. Hogg confirmed the news we had of the 
Indians. He says there were 13 People who intended to settle on 
the Ohio, and the Indians came upon them and a battle ensued. The 
white people killed 3 Indians (imagined to be chiefs) and then fled. 
This caused the Indians to hold a council & they are determined to 
kill the Virginians and rob the Pennsylvanians." 

Regardless of the warnings of Colonel Field and Mr. Hogg, the 
fearless young surveyor and his resolute companions proceeded as 
rapidly as possible to the mouth of the Kanawha. When they 
arrived at the point, which in a few months was to be made the scene 
of the bloodiest battle that had yet taken place between the white 
men and the Indians, Hanson says in his journal: "At our arrival 
we found 26 people there on different designs — some to cultivate 
land, others to attend the surveyors. They confirm the same story of 
the Indians. * * * Mr. Floyd and the other Surveyors were 
received with great joy by the people here." 

After resting a day at the place, which now bears the historic 
name of Point Pleasant, the surveying party divided into two groups 
and proceeded down the Ohio River. In a few days they reached 
Kentucky, where they again received from hunters and explorers 
additional warnings of the threatened outbreak of the Indians; and 
Hanson notes that "the alarm before mentioned occasioned 4 to 



and Southwest Virginia 263 

return back, viz Mr. Dandridge, Taylor, Holloway & Waggoner." 
The remainder of the company, then thirty-three in number, traveled 
on dovrn the Ohio for several days until they arrived at a point 
opposite the mouth of the Sciota River. This was on Saturday, the 
30th of April, and as to what was done on May 1st, the following 
day, Hanson relates: "It being Sunday we took our rest, and looked 
at an old Fort we found about 4 or 500 hundred yards from the 
Banks of the River. It is a square Figure, each side 300 Paces long. 
It has 4 gates and Sally Ports, and it is so antient, that the Indians 
cannot tell when it was built, or by whome. There has been an 
Indian Town there formerly & there is some remains of it to this 
Day." 

Thwaites undertakes to account for this strange ruin, which 
Hanson calls a Fort, by saying that George Croghan, a Pennsylvania 
trader, had, some twenty years previously, built a stone trading 
house in the locality where Floyd's party saw the ruin. Hanson's 
description of its dimensions must be greatly exaggregated, or 
Thwaites' theory of its origin is unreasonable. 

On the 2nd day of May, Floyd and his companion surveyors 
began their surveying in Kentucky. The first survey they made was 
a boundary of four or five hundred acres in the name of Patrick 
Henry, which included the old Fort and the abandoned Indian town. 
It was the town from which Mrs. Mary Ingles made her escape 
from the Indians in 1755. Floyd and his company then wenv 
actively to work, making surveys of the best lands in different locali- 
ties, and continued this work until Daniel Boone and Michael Stoner, 
messengers sent out by Captain Russell, reached and informed them 
that the Indians had commenced hostilities. Thereupon, Floyd, and 
the men who were with him, started on a hasty march to the Clinch 
Valley settlements, while Boone and Stoner went on to give warn- 
ing to Taylor and others who had separated from Floyd's survey- 
ing party. 

The Floyd surveying expedition was an incident that very 
greatly affected the welfare of the inhabitants of the Clinch Valley; 
and for that reason I have given it extended notice. It was one of 
the certain contributing causes that provoked the Indians to com- 
mence hostile attacks in 1771 upon the settlers in the Alleghany 
regions — all the way from Pennsylvania to the Cumberland Moun- 
tains — and it involved the Tazewell pioneers in a frightful struggle 
with the Shawnees, that did not terminate until several years after 
the Revolutionarv War was concluded. 



264 History of Tazewell County 

In the spring of 1774 the Virginians were engaged in two very 
bitter quarrels, one with the Pennsylvanians over the boundary line 
between the two provinces, and the other with the Indians in Ohio 
over the territory south of the Ohio River. The Virginians were 
determined to take actual possession of the uninhabited lands in 
Kentucky and in the present West Virginia for establishing settle- 
ments, claiming to have acquired the right to do this under the treaty 
made with the Iroquois Indians. On the other hand, the Pennsyl- 
vanians did not wish to disturb the Indians in the possession of the 
disputed territory. The Pennsylvania traders had for a number of 
years held control of the trade with the Indians in the Ohio Valley, 
and had realized heavy profits therefrom; and they openly encour- 
aged the red men to resist further encroachments upon their hunting 
grounds by the white men, no matter whether they were from Vir- 
ginia or Pennsylvania. 

John Floyd, wrote a letter to Colonel William Preston, dated, 
"Little Giandot, 26th April 1774," in which he related the follow- 
ing: "Last night Thos. Glen, Lawrence Ordei-ed & William Nash 
came to our camp who were ordered off the River by a Party of 
Indians who only saw them across the River. The Shawnees took 
Darnell & 6 Others prisoners a few weeks ago & held a Council 
Over them three Days; after which they took everything they had 
& sent them off: telling them at the same time it was the directions 
from the Superintendent Geo. Crohon (Croghan) to kill all the 
Virginians they could find on the River & rob & whip the Pexm- 
sylvanians. This they told them in English." 

The Virginians were greatly angered b}' the conduct of such 
scoundrels as Croghan; and accused the Pennsylvania traders of not 
only inciting the Indians to commit brutal outrages upon the whites, 
but charged them with supplying the savages with guns and ammuni- 
tion to be used in their plundering and murderous forays against the 
border settlements. But the best element of the backwoodsmen, 
including the Clinch Valley pioneers, were reluctant to engage in 
war with the Indians, knowing that a very large percentage of the 
much-wronged natives were still friendly to the whites and wanted 
to preserve peaceful relations with them. Availing themselves of 
several acts of violence and thievery perpetrated by a few of the 
vicious red men, certain brutal and disorderly white men began 
to murder, without provocation, innocent men and women of the red 
race. 



and Southwest Virginia 265 

A few days after John Floyd made his voyage down the Ohio 
River from the mouth of the Kanawha, two cruel butcheries of 
friendly Indians occurred in the Upper Ohio Valley. These acts 
were so inhuman that even the friendly Indians became frenzied, 
and war was ushered in. As previously stated, there was an acri- 
monious controversy going on between the Virginians and the Penn- 
sylvanians over the boundry line. Virginia was claiming title to the 
country about Pittsburg and the entire Susquehana Valley; and a 
large number of the Pennsylvania mountaineers were supporting the 
claims of the Virginia Government. Lord Dunmore, then governor, 
appointed Dr. John Connolly, a native of Lancaster County, Penn- 
sylvania, to act as agent for Virginia in the boundary dispute. 
Connollj'^ was a fiery-tempered and rash man ; and was not unwilling 
to bring about strife between the men of Virginia and Pennsylvania, 
and precipitate war with the Ohio Indians. On April 15th, 1774, 
three traders in the employ of a man named Butler were traveling 
in a canoe about fifty miles below Pittsburg when they were attacked 
and robbed by a band of outlaw Cherokees. John Floyd in his letter 
to Colonel Preston, written at "Little Giandot" on the 26th of April, 
thus refers to the incident: "The whites & Indians the 15th Instant 
had a skirmish at the mouth of Beaver Creek 45 miles below Pitts- 
burg. One white man killed, another wounded & One other yet 
missing the Wounded man got into Fort Pitt where Dr. Wood 
Dressed his Wounds, this I have from the second hand & I think 
may be depended on." 

Immediately following this act of violence, Connolly issued an 
open letter to the white men on the frontier, ordering them to make 
strong resistance to all attacks made by the Indians, and informing 
the backwoodsmen that the Shawnees had become hostile. This 
circular letter was construed by the more desperate white men on 
the border to be an invitation to make attacks upon the Indians. In 
fact the letter was interpreted by the white settlers to be a declara- 
tion of war against the Shawnees and their allies of the other Ohio 
tribes; and Roosevelt says: "As soon as they received Connolly's 
letter they proceeded to declare war in the regular Indian style, 
calling a council, planting the war-post, and going through other 
savage ceremonies, and eagerly waited for a chance to attack their 
foes." 

Captain Michael Cresap was then near Wheeling with a company 
of hunters and scouts, and with them engaged in the savage cere- 
monies described by Roosevelt. Butler, the trader, whose men had 



266 History of Tazewell County 

been robbed and killed by the Cherokees, sent two friendly Shawnees 
in a canoe to the mouth of Beaver Creek to try to recover some of 
the furs of which he had been robbed by the Cherokees. These two 
friendly Shawnees were ambushed, and killed^ and scalped, by 
Captain Cresap and his men, on the 27th, of April, near Captina. 
The better class of the frontiersmen made earnest protest against the 
outrageous act, but Cresap and his brutal band were proud of their 
crime. The next day Cresap and his followers made an attack upon 
a party of Shawnees who were returning from a trading expedition 
to Pittsburg, and killed one and wounded two of the Indians. One 
of Cresap's men was also wounded. Among the men who were with 
Cresap when these outrages were committed was George Rodgers 
Clark, then twenty-one years old, and who a few years later became 
famous as an explorer and leader of the military expeditions that 
won the great Northwestern territory for Virginia. 

Cresap's dastardly acts were followed in a few days by the com- 
mission of a crime against friendly Indians that was more revolting 
than anything that had previously occurred on the border. It hap- 
pened on the 30th of April, three days after the killing of the Shaw- 
nees by Cresap ; and among the victims were a brother and sister 
of Logan, the great Mingo chief, who had been a staunch friend of 
the whites. The scene of the massacre was near the mouth of Yel- 
low Creek, on the east side of the Ohio Rivei', and at the house of a 
man named Baker. Lord Dmimore, in his report to the Earl of Dart- 
mouth, secretary of state for the colonies, made on the 24th of De- 
cember, 1774, gave the following account of the deplorable incident: 

"A party of Indians, with their women, happening to encamp on 
the side of the Ohio opposite to the house of one Baker, who, 
together with a man of the name of Gratehouse, called to, and invited 
the Indians to come over and drink with them ; two men and as many 
women came accordingly, and were, at first, well received, but Baker 
and Gratehouse, who by this time had collected other People, con- 
trived to entoxicate the Indians, and they then Murdered them. 
Soon after two more came over from the Indian Party in search of 
their ComjDanions, and these met with the same fate. The remainder 
of the Indian Party growing uneasy at not seeing their friends 
return, five of them got into a Canoe to go over to the house, but 
they were soon fired upon by Baker and Gratehouse. and two of 
the Indians killed and the other three wounded." 

Previous to the killing of Logan's sister and brother, a council 
of the Indians had been held, at which many of the warriors urged 



and Southwest Virginia 267 

that all the Ohio tribes should unite and resist the continued aggres- 
sions and intrusions of the "Long Knives/' this name then being 
applied to the Virginians. Logan was present and took a conspic- 
uous part in the council, and urgently insisted that peace should be 
maintained witli the whites. He conceded that his people had been 
outrageousl)^ wronged by the pale faces, but he told the Indians they 
had also been guilty of many outrages upon their white foes. And 
he also asserted that the red men could accomplish nothing more 
than harrass and distress the border settlers ; and, that, resenting 
such acts, the Virginians would come in great numbers and drive the 
Indians from Ohio. He was an orator, his oratory prevailed, and 
the hatchet for the time being was buried; but the Yellow Creek 
massacre turned Logan into a veritable fiend. When he was 
informed of the foul murder of his brother and sister, he raised his 
hatchet aloft and made a vow that he would not cease to wield it 
until he had taken ten white scalps for each one that had been torn 
from the heads of his kindred. Logan's sister was the Indian wife 
of Colonel John Gibson, who was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 
and who had participated in the previous Indian wars. At the 
commencement of Pontiac's War Gibson was captured, but was 
saved from being burned at the stake by adoption by a squaw. He 
was released from captivity by 13oquet's expedition in 1764, but con- 
tinued to have intimate relations with the Indians, even taking 
Logan's sister for a wife. After Dunmore's War, he espoused the 
Revoluntionary cause and commanded the 13th Virginia regiment; 
and after the Revolution was ended he held several important civil 
offices in his State and in the Nation. His Indian wife had an infant 
child with her when she was murdered by Baker and Greathouse; 
and the child was sent to Pennsylvania, where its fatl>er was then 
residing as an Indian trader. What became of the child, history 
does not relate. 

Immediately after the Yellow Creek tragedy the Mingos sent 
runners to the Shawnees, the Delawares, and other tribes, to inform 
them of the outrages perpetrated by Cresap and Greathouse; and 
urging a war of vengeance against the whites. Logan gathered a 
band of Mingos together and began to make bloody incursions into 
the settlements. His first scalping expedition was made into Penn- 
sylvania and the Panhandle section of Virginia, now West Virginia ; 
and he took thirteen scalps, six of which were taken from the heads 
of little children. He and his band were pursued by Captain Francis 
McClure with a company of Virginia militia. McClure was 



268 History of Tazewell County 

ambushed by the Indians, who killed and scalped him, and shot 
Lieutenant Samuel Kinkhead through the arm. 



While the horrible calamities were happening along and on the 
Ohio River the inhabitants of the Clinch, Holston and Upper New 
River valleys were diligently occupied with preparation for the 
troubles they apprehended would soon come upon them. Colonel 
William Preston, as county lieutenant, had command of all the mili- 
tary organizations of Fincastle County; and Major Arthur Camp- 
bell, as a subordinate of Colonel Preston, was in charge of all the 
militia and other military organizations on the west side of New 
River. Preston was then living at Smithfield, his home, just west 
of Blacksburg; and Campbell was living at Royal Oak, just east 
of the present Marion, Virginia. Both of these men were eminently 
fitted for the positions they were called upon to fill, and had acquired 
much experience with the habits and methods of the Indians in war 
and in peace. This was fully proven by the successful manner in 
which they dicharged their duties in the war that was then imminent 
with the Indians. They had to organize the inhabitants of Fincastle 
County into military bodies, and establish a line of defence reaching 
from New River, on through the Clinch and Powell's valleys, to 
Cumberland Gap, on the northwest side of the county; and from 
Cumberland Gap to the present North Carolina line on the south- 
west border. Fortunately the men who were to perform military 
service, as volunteers or drafted men, were all of the pioneer type, 
trained hunters and woodsmen, brave and strong, and ready to do or 
die for the protection of tlieir homes and families. Of these splendid 
men none were braver or more efficient than the Tazewell pioneers. 

The Ohio Indians, chiefly the Shawnees, made urgent appeals to 
the Cherokees in North Carolina and Georgia to unite with them 
in a vigorous war against the whites; and it required vei-y skillful 
management on the part of Major Campbell of the Holston, and 
leading men of the Watauga settlementis to prevent the Cherokees 
from entering the war. As it was, a few of the first outrages com- 
mitted were by mixed bands of Shawnees and Cherokees, the most 
notable being the murder of the three young men, Boone and Rus- 
sell and Drake, in Powell's Valley, in 1773. 

It was the belief of all the men of military experience, especially 
of those who had fought the Indians, that, if the Shawnees invaded 
Fincastle County with any considerable force, they would come from 
their towns in Ohio by way of Big Sandy River and its tributaries. 



and Southwest Virginia 



269 



This would be the most direct route, and the one where the savages 
would encounter no resistance until they reached the Clinch Valley. 
If they did come the Sandy River route, they would travel up Tug 
River, or the Dry Fork of Tug, or up the Louisa River; and by 
following either one of these three streams to their source, they 
would enter the Clinch Valley on territory now embraced in Taze- 
well County. For this reason the military authorities of Fincastle 
County were extremely anxious to make the line of defence in Taze- 
well County as strong as possible. The Tazewell pioneers had the 
work pretty well done before the conflict with the Indians began. 




The white cross shows the location of William Wynne's fort. The 
beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. A. Martin is shown just east of 
the white cross. 

There were three substantial forts already erected on the headwaters 
of the Clinch. Thomas Witten's fort at the Crab Orchard, Rees 
Bowen's at Maiden Spring, and William Wynne's at Locust Hill. 

Great excitement, and in some instances consternation, prevailed 
in all the settlements west of New River. Colonel Preston became 
deeply concerned about John Floyd's surveying party that was 
then actively at work in Kentucky ; and sent a messenger to Captain 
Wiliam Russell, urging him to send scouts to warn Floyd and all 
the surveying parties of the impending danger; and to tell them to 
come home as quickly as possible. 

Captain Russell, who was then at his fort at Castle's Woods, on 
Sunday, June 26th, wrote Colonel Preston: "I am Sensible good 
Sir of your Uncommon. concern for the Security of Capt. Floyd and 
the Gentlemen with him, and I sincerely Sympathise with you> lest 
they should fall a Prey, to such Inhuman, Blood thirsty Devils, as I 
have so lately suffered by ; but may God of his Infinite Mercy, Shield 
him, and Company, from the present impending Danger, and could 



270 History of Tazewell County 

we (thro' Providence) be a means of preserving such Valuable Mem- 
bers, by sending out Scouts, such a procedure would Undoutedly be, 
of the most lasting, and secret Satisfaction to us; and the Country 
in general. I have engaged to start on the occasion, two of the best 
Hands I think of, Danl. Boone, and Michl. Stoner; who have 
Engaged to search the Country, as low as the falls, and to return by 
way of Gaspers Lick, on Cumberland, and through Cumberland Gap. 
So that by the assiduity of these men, if it is not too late, I hope 
the Gentlemen will be apprised of the eminent Danger they are 
Daily in." 

It is needless to say that the two fearless pioneer patriots, 
Boone and Stoner, lost no time in starting on their rescue mission. 
They journeyed into the wilderness regions of Kentucky, with which 
they were already pretty familiar. At Harrodsburg they came upon 
Colonel James Harrod and thirty men, who were busily engaged in 
building a village of cabins. This was in July; and on the 14th 
of the preceding Maj^, according to a note in Hanson's journal, John 
Floj'd and his survej'ing part}' had visited Colonel Harrod and 
his party at this same place. Boone and Stoner informed Harrod 
and his party of their danger and tliey made no delay in starting 
to the settlments east of the Cumberland Mountains. Then the two 
scouts started out to find Floyd, and came upon another surveyin',^ 
party at Fontaineblcau. After warning them, Boone and Stoner 
proceeded to the Kentucky River, where they found Floyd, and he 
started immediately for the settlements in the Clinch Valley. 
Arriving at Captain Russell's fort and finding that Russell was pre- 
paring, with his company, to join the militiary expedition to Point 
Pleasant, Flo3'd proceeded to Colonel Preston's home at Smithfield, 
reaching that place on the 13th of August, 1774. Boone and Stoner 
proceeded to the falls of the Ohio River, where they found another 
company of surveyors to whom they gave warning, and then started 
on the return trip to the Clinch Valley. They arrived safely at 
Captain Russell's, having traveled eight hundred miles in sixty-one 
days on foot. There were more than a dozen men, of other survey- 
ing parties, that the scouts did not find, and they had to be left 
to their fate. Two of these, Hancock Taylor and James Strother, 
were killed by tlie Indians while they were traveling in a canoe. 
It is presumed that the others escaped, as Captain Russell reported 
to Colonel Preston that "John Green and three others of Mr. Tay- 
lor's Company have Arrived at Clinch." Two of these were John 
Bell and Abraham Hempinstall ; the other man's name has not 
been preserved. 



and Southwest Virginia 271 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FRONTIERS OF FINCASTLE COUNTY INVADED BY INDIANS. 

In the spring of 1774 Captain William Russell went to Williams- 
burg to acquaint Governor Dunmore with the serious condition of 
affairs on the borders of Fincastle County; and he returned with 
instructions from the governor, directed to Colon el Prest on and the 
other officers of the county, to take proper steps for protecting the 
borders, and to urge the inhabitants not to abandon t heir homes on 
the frontiers. 

On the 25th of June, 1774, a council of the militia officers of 
P'incastle County was held at the county seat, the Le^ Mines, and 
at this coiuicil it was determined that Lieutenant Colonel Christian 
should march with several companies of militia to the settlements on 
Clinch River, and from thence send out ranging parties to discover 
and attack any parties of Indians that might possibly come up 
Sandy River to distress the settlers on the Clinch. This action was 
taken in compliance with orders from Governor Dunmore, who 
seemed anxious to protect the inhabitants of the Holston and^^inch 
valleys from incursions by the Cherokees and Shawnees. In pur- 
suance of this plan of action. Colonel Preston, who was then at 
Fort Chiswell, in the present Wythe County, on June 27th 1774, 
sent the following instructions to Colonel Williani Christian : 

"I have given Orders to six Captains to raise twenty men out of 
each of their Companys either as Volunteers or by Draught; which 
with what men can be engag'd from other companies, will make up 
the party One Hundred & fifty men besides Officers. 

"You ai*e to take the Command of this party, Captains Crockett 
& Campbell will go with you & each will have fifty men beside the 
Necessary Officers, the remaining fifty will be under your Imme- 
diate Command as a Company, and as One subaltern will be enough 
I am in hopes Ensign William Buchanan will answer that purpose. 

"You will endeavor to procure ammunition and Provisions for 
this service. I expect a good many of the soldiers will take their 
Horses to carrj' the provisions, for which they ought to be made an 
allowance, this allowance & the value of the provisions or what ever 
else may be necessary for this Service you will please to have Set- 
tled by two honest men on Oath. * * * * 



272 History of Tazewell County 

"I have appointed the Soldiers to meet you at the Town House 
on Holston early next week, from whence you are to begin your 
march to Clinch & from thence over Cumberland Mountain by any 
Gap or pass you think proper that Leades to the head branches of 
the Kentucky & there Range together or in separate parties & at 
such places as you judge most likely to discover and repulse the 
Enemy on their Approach to our Settlements. It is believed there 
is a large party of Cherokees on their way to or from the Shawnees 
Towns, if you should fall in with this Company & know them I must 
leave it to your own Prudence in what manner to treat them, tho it 
is generally Said that these Indians are about to Join our Enemies, 
yet as this Report is not reduced to a Certainty, I cannot give any 
Particular orders herein. You will Probably be able to Judge by 
the Manner of their approach or rather Circumstances that cannot 
now be foreseen, what Indians they are & then you will act Accord- 
ingly, but upon the whole I would earnestly Recommend the utmost 
caution and Discretion in this very nice & important part of your 
duty. Should this party of Cherokees, which is generally said to be 
about Seventy in number, come in a Hostile manner there is no 
doubt but they will be Accompanyd by a number of Shawnees or 
rather Enemy Indians which may render them formidable to your 
party. 

"I would therefore Recommend your keeping out some active 
men on the right & left, in the front & Rear even to the distance 
of a mile on Your march and at Camp to keep out a number of 
Centinals, to prevent a Surprize which is too often attended with 
fatal Consequences, this above all things ought ever to be Guarded 
against, nor Should this Part of the duty be Neglected or Relaxed 
on any occasion whatsoever." 

Colonel Preston then recommended that Colonel Christian should 
consult his officers in connection with important matters connected 
with the expedition; and expressed the hope that the officers, who 
were required and commanded to obey their commanding officer, 
would be alert and obedient in the performance of duty. He also 
directed that the officers should keep good order and discipline in 
their companies, and "be unanimous and Friendly amongst them- 
selves that every Intention of Sending out the Party may be fully 
answered." Colonel Preston closed these orders with the following 
stirring appeal to the patriotism and military spirit of the officers 
and men of the expedition: 



and Southwest Virginia 273 

"As it is expected that you will have none but choice officers & 
men on this little Expedition: therefore the Eyes of the Country 
will be upon you: So that I have no doubt but every person in his 
station will exert himself to answer the wishes & expectations of 
his Country, and serve it as much as in his power lies. 

"That Heaven may give you Success & Safety it is the Sincere 
wish 

of Sir your most Humble Servant 

Wm. Preston. 
Colo. William Christian" 

These military orders, issued by the county lieutenant of Fin- 
castle County, will be read with interest, no doubt, by all persons 
who are descendants of the pioneer settlers of Tazewell Comity; 
and should be interesting to those who care to acquaint themselves 
with its early history. It will be observed that the first military 
expedition sent to the Clinch Valley, in the first war in which its 
inhabitants were to take an active part, was ordered to march to 
the lower sections of the Valley, though the three principal passes 
used by the Indians when they came by the way of the Sandy Val- 
ley were at the headwaters of the Louisa, the Dry Fork, and Tug 
River. All of these passes were in territory that was subsequently 
embraced in Tazewell County. This indicates that the inhabitants 
of the Lower Clinch Valley were more seriously threatened, or were 
more alarmed than the people on the headwaters of the Clinch, or 
that they were not as well prepared to resist savage invasions as 
were our pioneer ancestors. 

The exhortation of Colonel Preston to the officers, to be "imani- 

mous and friendly among themselves," warrants the belief that 

jealousies and rivalries had previously existed, or were then being 

cultivated, among the officers connected with the expedition. In 

fact, such a feeling had been manifested by and between certain of 

the officers from the Holston Valley, and possibly by some of those 

from the New River and Reed Creek sections. There was nothing 

of this kind shown among the Tazewell pioneers. None of them 

were concerned about holding official positions. Their chief concern 

was the protection of the homes they had struggled to erect in the 

wilderness coimtry. In a letter written by Captain Russell to 

Colonel Preston after the arrival of the expedition at Castle's Woods, 

he showed some feeling, because he thought he and others in the 
T.H. — 18 



274 History of Tazewell County 

Clinch Valley had not received proper consideration in being ap- 
pointed to commands and regularly enlisted in the service. He said: 
"I am sorry to find Sir^ I can't be Indulged to serve my Country 
with a Captns Command^, as early as others; who ai*e but new 
Hands." In another part of the letter he said: "Was I to Keep 
a Commission^ in hopes of Benefiting my Country, or selfe, and my 
hopes was, from a set of Gentlemen; who, were all desireous to 
serve as well as my self e ; I am assured against such powerful Con- 
nexions, as are upon the Holston, and New River Waters, It wood be 
useless for me to mention one Word about it." 

Captain Russell was not much of a speller, and he was ill- 
versed in the art of punctuation and the proper use of capital let- 
ters ; but he knew how to politely rebuke what he believed to be 
favoritism and nepotism. Possibly he had been wrought to this 
temper by remembrance of the manner in which the county offices 
had been distributed when the county of Fincastle was organized. 
Certain families "upon the Holston^ andjthe New River Waters" 
were apportioned all the offices of honor and profit; and Colonel 
Preston was, at the time Russell wrote him, county lieutenant through 
appointment by the governor, and both sheriff and surveyor of 
Fincastle County by election by the county court, of which court he 
was also a member. In those days certain families in Virginia, 
under a royal government, were potential in most of the counties, 
and such has been the case in nearly all the counties of the Com- 
monwealth since a republican form of government was established 
in 1776. This was a very natural condition, and it always obtains 
where organized society is found. The organization of what we 
call civil government has ever been brought about by the energy and 
zeal of a few dominating spirits, who necessarily become self-con- 
stituted leaders of the government, or are made such by the people. 
This was the case when our Federal and State governments were 
formed, and the records show that it was the same when the great 
county of Tazewell was organized as a distinct civil and military 
community. 

The first week in July, 1774, in obedience to orders. Colonel 
Christian assembled his command of three companies, of fifty men 
each, besides officers, at Town House. At this point lived Captain 
James Thompson^ who was a grandson of Colonel James Patton. 
Thompson had a small i^rivate fort and the name of his home, 
"Town House," was given because it had been selected by Colonel 



and Southwest Virginia 275 

Patton as a suitable place for a settlement or town^ just as he had 
selected Draper's Meadows for such a purpose. Captain William 
Campbell was in command of one of the companies, CajDtain Walter 
Crockett of another, and Colonel Christian, in compliance with 
orders, took charge of the third company. Campbell then lived at 
Aspinvale, the present Seven Mile Ford, and Crockett lived on the 
headwaters of the South Fork of Holston River, both living within 
the limits of the present Smyth County. 

Soon after commencing his march from Town House for the 
Clinch, Colonel Christian deemed it expedient to make a departure 
from the specific orders of Colonel Preston to march with all his 
force "to the Clinch and from thence over Cumberland Mountain 
* * * to the head branches of the Kentucky." From a point 
somewhere near Abingdon, on the 9th of July, Christian sent a 
messenger, with a written report of the movements of his command, 
to Colonel Preston. Among the important matters reported, the 
following is found: 

"On Thursday last Mr. Doack's letter to Crockett was shown 
to me at Cedar Creek about 9 miles on this Side of Stalnakers. I 
thought it best to send Crockett off with 40 men to the head of Sandy 
creek, that the reed creek and head of Holston people might know 
where to Send to him in case any attack should be made, that he 
might waylay or follow the enemy. * * . * Yesterday I heard a 
report that 50 Indians were seen at Sandy creek but as it came thro 
several hands it may not be true." 

There were several causes for this change in the disposition of 
the men under his command. Tlie day previous, the 8th of July, 
Captain Dan Smith, who had a fort at Elk Garden, and who had 
charge of the line of defence in the Upper Clinch Valley, wrote to 
Colonel Preston, reporting an alarming condition at the head of the 
north fork of Clinch and Bluestone. He said: "The constant 
Rumor of the Indians being just ready to fall on the Inhabitants 
hath scared away almost the whole settlement at the head of the 
north fork of Clinch and Bluestone. I am sorry to find that the 
people are so scary and that there are so many propagators of false 
reports in the country." 

Captain Smith then reported that the false rumors were causing 
"timorous people to run away." He said: "This the people at the 
head of the river did before I got the least notice of tlieir intention 
to start. The men have said they will return again after carrying 



276 History of Tazewell County 

their wives and children to a place of safety; If they do 'twill be 
more than I expect. They alledge as an excuse for their going 
away that there was no Scout down Sandy Creek." Captain Smith 
admitted the charge was true that there had been no scout down 
Sandy Creek, but tried to place the responsibility for this neglect 
upon James Maxwell, to whom he said he had entrusted the duty. 
Smith charged that, instead of looking after the matter, James 
Maxwell had "gone down to Botetourt to see his family, — and whose 
return is not expected shortly;" and that James Maxwell had left 
the scouting matter in the hands of his brother, Thomas Maxwell. 
It seems that James Maxwell had notified Smith of the arrangement 
with his brother and that Smith had acquiesced, for he further re- 
ported to Colonel Preston about James Maxwell's non-performance 
of duty: 

"As he lived most convenient to the head of Sandy Creek I con- 
sulted him with regard to scouts that should go down that water 
course. His brother Thomas was the one pitched upon. On their 
return from the first trip, altlio they brought no accounts of Indians, 
As your letter of the 20th ult. came to hand about that time I sent 
two scouts down a river called Louisa, and at the recommendation of 
Mr. Th. Maxwell appointed one, Israel Harmon to act with him 
down Sandy Creek, for it was natural for me, as I reposed much 
confidence in Mr. James Maxwell to pay regard to what his Brother 
Thomas advised. I am now to inform you that Mr. Thomas Maxwell 
proved Highly unworthy the confidence I reposed in him, so much 
so that I think his behaviour requires that he should be called to 
account at the next court martial, as I've just been informed there 
really is a militia law yet subsisting; for instead of going down 
Sandy Creek as I strictly charged him to do he went to the head 
of the river, reported the danger they were in, and assisted Jacob 
Harmon to move into the New River settlement." 

There is no doubt but that Captain Dan Smtih entirely misunder- 
stood the character and quality of the men he was censuring so bit- 
terly, and thoroughly misapprehended their real worth. They had 
no garrisoned fort at hand, as Captain Smith had at Elk Garden, in 
which they could easily place their wives and children for safety; 
and they were living along one of the most frequented and most 
dangerous trails the Indians used when they made hostile visits to 
tlie settlements. The pioneer Maxwells and Harmans were as brave 
and true as any of the splendid men who were of the first settlers in 



and Southwest Virginia 277 

the Clinch Valley. At least, one of them, the one Smith most 
severely condemned, Thomas Maxwell, by his future actions hero- 
ically disproved the aspersions Smith cast upon his character. Smith 
was reputed to be a very courageous man ; and it may be that he was 
so fearless that caution and prudence in others to him had the 
appearance of cowardice. But if Smith ever came in contact with 
hostile Indians, there is nothing of record to show it. 

Thomas Maxwell was no "timorous" man. Dressed in hunting 
shirt, with tomahawk and scalping knife in belt ; and with his trusty 
mountain rifle on his shoulder, he marched to and fought at King's 
Mountain. After the battle at that place, which was fought on the 
7th of October, 1780, Thomas Maxwell settled on the North Fork 
of Holston River, near Broad Ford, in the present Smyth County. 
In the spring of 1781, a small band of Shawnee Indians made an 
inroad into Burke's Garden and made the wife and children of 
Thomas Ingles captives. Ingles went immediately to the North 
Fork of Holston, where he found Captain Thomas Maxwell engaged 
in drilling a squad of fourteen militia. Maxwell and his men went 
with Ingles to Burke's Garden, and from that place trailed the 
Indians until they overtook them on Tug River. In the attack that 
was made to rescue the captives Captain Maxwell was the only one 
of the white men killed. The pass where the encounter took place 
has ever since been called Maxwell's Gap, where the "timorous" 
man rests in a heroe's grave. 

In this letter to Colonel Preston, wherein Smith accuses the Max- 
wells and other settlers "at the head of the north fork of Clinch 
and Bluestone" with cowardice and neglect of duty, he makes con- 
fession that his own men, in the Elk Garden settlement, were 
alarmed and asks that a company of soldiers be sent there to relieve 
their fears. He says: "As the spirits of the men that are yet left 
in my company Are not in very high flow, I do think that a Company 
of men stationed on the river if there was not over 20 would greatly 
encourage the settlers, if they did nothing but Assist to build forts 
in this busy time of laying by Com. I really shall be greatly pleased 
if you should be of the same Opinion." Captain Smith was a little 
inconsistent, to say the least, in rebuking the Maxwells and Harmans 
for showing anxiety for the safety of their families, and expressing 
no condemnation for the timid settlers of his own community. 

Subsequent events proved that the pass at the head of Sandy 
Creek was the most important and dangerous one on the frontier west 



278 History of Tazewell County 

of New River; and that the JNIaxwells and Harmans had not been 
mistaken when they decided it was too dangerous to let their fami- 
lies remain in its vicinity. Consternation prevailed among the inhabi- 
tants in Rich Valley, on Walker's Creek, at the head of the Middle 
Fork of Holston and in the Reed Creek Valley. Captain Robert 
Doack, who was an officer in the Fincastle militia, and who was then 
living in the neighborhood of old Mt. Airy, in the present Wythe 
County, had been ordered to draft a company of men and march 
them to the heads of Sandy Creek and Clinch. On the r2th of July, 
1774, four days after the letter was wi-itten by Cajitain Smith 
reporting the supposed delinquencies of the Maxwells and Harmans, 
Captain Doack addressed a letter to Colonel Preston, from which 
the following is quoted: 

"Sir — Agreeable to your Order I Drafted men & was in Read- 
iness to March to the heads of Sandy Ci-eek & Clinch, When some 
tracts were seen in this neighbourhood supposed to be Indians which 
Colo. Chi-istian hearing sent Capt. Crockett to where I was, Ordered 
& Directed me to range near the Inhabitants. We were informd, 
that sixteen Indians were seen on Walkers Creek which I went down 
with 25 men but not finding any Signs & hearing the News Contra- 
dicted Dischargd them. The people were all in Garison from Fort 
Chiswell to the Head of Holston & in great Confusion. They are 
fled from the Rich Vallc}' & Walkers Creek. Some are Building 
forts they have Began to build at my Father's, James Davis', & 
Gasper Kinders. I think they are not strong enough for three forts 
but might do for two. If you thought proper to Order that a Ser- 
geant Command might be Stationed at eacli of these places on Mis- 
chief being Done Or at any two of them I think it would Keep this 
part of the Country from leaving it & would enable them to save 
their Crops this I humbly Conceive would be a protection & encour- 
agement & on an alarm when people fled to the forts with their 
Familys those men would always be Ready to follow the Enemy." 

With such conditions of alarm and confusion existing in the more 
populous settlements of the Holston and Reed Creek valleys, 
because of the apprehension of Indian raiding parties by way of the 
Sandy Creek passes, it was the duty of the men on the extreme 
frontier to remove their families to places of assured safety. At 
this time there was no reported disquietude or fear in the localities 
where the Tazewell pioneers had grouj^ed themselves in communities 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 279 

and built forts. The men in the neighborhoods where the Wynne, 
the Witten and the Bowen forts were located were not calling for 
help or protection. The Hannans, Peerys, Wynnes, Taylors, Evans' 
and other settlers in the vicinity of Wynne's fort had confidence in 
their ability to meet and defeat any Indian bands that came to their 
neighborhood; the Wittens, Greenups, Peerys, Marrs', and the 
Cecils, grouped near Wittens fort; and the Bowens, Wards, Martins, 
Thompsons, and others about Maiden Spring, seem to have been 
inspired with the same confidence. 

In compliance with the orders which Colonel Preston had given 
him. Colonel Christian marched promptly, with ninety men, to Rus- 
sell's fort on the Clinch, at Castle's Woods. From that place, on 
the 12th of July, 1774, he wrote Colonel Preston that he thought it 
his duty to send Captain Walter Crockett and his company "to cover 
the inhabitants that lie exposed to Sandy Creek Pass." He further 
suggested that it was the opinion of the officers of his command that 
an expedition of 150 or 200 men should be sent to the Ohio, at the 
mouth of the Scioto, and thence on forty-five miles to destroy the 
"Shawnese Town." 

On the 12th of July, the same day that Colonel Christian wrote 
to Colonel Preston suggesting that an expedition should be sent to 
the Shawnee towns in Ohio, Governor Dunmore forwarded an order 
to Colonel Andrew Lewis, directing him to assemble a force of men 
from Botetourt, Fincastle and other counties, to go on an expedition 
to the Ohio Valley for the purpose of bringing the Indians into sub- 
jection. Colonel Lewis forwarded Dunmore's order to Colonel Pres- 
ton, accompanying it with a letter in which he said, in pai't: "The 
governor from what he wrote us has taken it for granted that we 
would fit out an P'xpedition & has acted accordingly. I make no 
doubt but he will be as much surprised at our backwardness, as he 
may call it, as we are at ye precipetet steps in ye other quarter. 
Dont fail to come and let us do something. I would as matters 
stand use gi-eat risque rath'jr than a miscarrage should happen." 
Colonel Lewis ordered Preston, as county lieutenant of Fincastle, 
to enlist two hundred and fifty men, or more, if they could possibly 
be raised, to go on the expedition. This of course made an end of 
Christian's proposition for an expedition to the mouth of the Scioto 
River; and immediate steps were taken to comply with the orders 
of Governor Dunmore. Colonel Preston on the 20th of July, 1774, 



280 History of Tazewell County 

sent by special messenger from his home at Smithfield, a circular 
letter to Colonel Christian, in which he said: 

"Inclosed you have a Copy of Lord Dunmore's Letter to Colo. 
Lewis of the 12th Instant, In Consequence of which, the Colo, has 
Called upon me to Attend on the Expedition, with at least, two hun- 
dred & fifty Men, or more if they can Possibly be raised; This 
Demand if Possible must be Complyed with, as it is not Altogether 
our Quota ; & indeed it appears reasonable, we should turn out 
cheerfully On the present Occasion in Defence of our Lives and 
Properties which have been so long exposed to the savages. * * * 
We may Perhaps never have so fair an Opportunity of reducing our 
old Inveterate Enemies to Reason, if this should by any means be 
neglected. The Earl of Dunmore is deeply ingaged in it. The 
House of Burgesses will without all Doubt enable his Lordship to 
reward every Volunteer in a handsome manner, over and above his 
Pay; as the plunder of the County will be valuable, & it is said 
the Shawnees have a great stock of Horses. Besides it will be the 
only method of settling a lasting Peace with the Indian Tribes 
Around us, who on former Occasions have been Urged by the Shaw- 
nees to engage in a War with Virginia. This useless People may 
now at last be Obliged to abandon their Country, their towns may 
be plundered and burned, their cornfields destroyed; & they dis- 
tressed in such a manner as will prevent them from giving us any 
future Trouble; Therefore I hope the men will Readily & cJieerfully 
engage in the Expedition as They will not only be conducted by 
their own Officers but they will be Assisted by a great number of 
Officers & soldiers raised behind the Mountains, whose Bravery they 
cannot be Doubtful of, while they Act from the same Motive of Self 
Defence." 

This circular letter must be authentic, as it was one of the Pres- 
ton papers turned over to Lyman C. Draper by the descendants of 
Colonel William Preston; and which is now possessed and preserved 
by the Wisconsin Historical Society as a valuable and precious 
document. The spirit of the paper is not of a character that should 
win the approval of the descendants of the pioneer settlers of South- 
west Virginia. It breathes too much of the spirit of the Celtic Rob 
Roys and the Saxon Cederics, who thought it not immoral to plunder 
and kill their weaker neighbors. The paper also shows that Colonel 
Preston and, possibly, a number of the Trans-Alleghany pioneers, 



and Southwest Virginia 281 

still held to the idea that there were no good Indians; and were in 
sympathy with the policy, which started at Jamestown, of extermi- 
nating the aborigines. If the proposed unrighteous features of the 
expedition induced any of our ancestors to accompany it, we should 
not be proud of the fact. It was an invitation to go with an expedi- 
tion to Ohio to drive the benighted aboriginal inhabitants from their 
lands, to plunder and burn their homes, destroy their crops, and 
massacre their women and children. Fortunately these cruel designs 
were thwarted by the peace which was made with the Indians by 
Lord Dunmore immediately after the battle of Point Pleasant was 
won by the gallant Virginia mountaineers. 



The year 1774 was a very eventful and trying one to the Taze- 
well pioneers. Though the population west of New River was 
sparse and very much scattered, the inhabitants soon became inti- 
mately associated in making preparation to repel invasions of the 
hostile Indians. Excitement was intense at a most important period 
of the year, when the settlers were busily occupied in making and 
saving their crops of grain, chiefly corn, upon which their families 
were dependent for subsistence during the ensuing year. Small 
scalping parties of Shawnees began to invade the regions along and 
west of New River; and in making these incursions they showed a 
strong disposition to use the passes at the headwaters of Sandy 
River, all of which fronted on the Upper Clinch Valley in Tazewell 
County. 

In compliance with the orders of Colonel William Preston, 
five companies were in process of enlistment and organization to 
join the expedition of Colonel Andrew Lewis to Ohio. These com- 
panies were ultimately organized and marched under command of 
Captains William Campbell, Evan Shelby, and Walter Crockett, of 
the Holston Valley; Captain William Herbert of the Upper New 
River Valley; and Captain William Russell of the Clinch Valley. 
While these companies were being enlisted and assembled, a small 
band of Shawnee Indians came up Tug River, crossed over to and 
down Wolf Creek to New River, and went up the latter stream to 
the homes of Philip Lybrook and John McGriff on the east side of 
New River, just below the mouth of Sinking Creek, in the 
present county of Giles. On Sunday, the 7th day of August, 1774, 
they made an attack upon a group of children who were playing on 



282 History of Tazewell County 

the bank of the river. Three of Lybrook's children one a sucking 
infant, a young woman by the name of Scott, and two little girls of 
Mrs. Snidow were killed; and Lybrook, who was at a small mill he 
had built near his home, was wounded in the arm. The children 
were scalped and mangled in a very cruel manner. McGriif shot and 
mortally wounded one of the Indians. Some years later the remains 
of the Indian were found under rocks at a cliff near the scene of the 
tragedy. Three small boys, Theophilus and Jacob Snidow and 
Thomas McGriff, were made captives and taken away by the Indians. 
On the following Wednesday night, while camping at Pipestem 
Knob, in the present Summers County, West Virginia, two of the 
boys, Jacob Snidow and Thomas McGriff, made a daring and suc- 
cessful escape. Judge Johnston, who gives a very interesting 
account of the tragic incident in his History of the New Rivei 
Settlement, says: "Theophilus Snidow, the other captive boy, was 
carried by the Indians to their towns north of the Ohio, and when 
he had reached his manhood returned to his people, but in delicate 
health with pulmonary trouble from which he shortly died." 

Colonel Preston had sent Major James Robertson, with a scout- 
ing party of twenty men to Culbertson's Bottom, now known as 
Crump's Bottom, in Summers County, West Virginia, to build a fort 
and give warning to the settlers on the river above. Robertson 
wrote to Colonel Preston on the 1st of August, 1774, reporting, in 
part, as follows: "About three hours ago John Draper came here 
witli thirteen men, which makes our number 33." He then reported 
that he was keeping scouts out continually, and had seen no fresh 
signs of Indians for four or five days; but said: "as John Draper 
came down yesterday he surely seen the tracks of five or six Indians, 
he says, on Wolf Creek, and they made towards the settlements." 
This was evidently the same party that made the attack upon the 
Lybrooks and Snidows, as Colonel Preston reported to Lord Dun- 
more that there were but six Indians in the band that killed the 
Lybrook and Snidow children. The Indians had knowledge of the 
scouting station at Culbertson's and had adroitly avoided Robertson's 
scouts, by traveling up Tug, crossing over to Wolf Creek and reach- 
ing New River about twenty miles above where Robertson was 
stationed. On the 12th of August he again wrote Colonel Preston 
from Culbertson's, sayings: "This morning our scouts met with a 
couple of poor little boj'S between this and Blue Stone, one a son 
of John McGriff's, the other a son of Widow Snidows at Burks 



and Southwest Virginia 283 

fort, that made their escapes from the Indians, last Tuesday night 
about midnight away up towards the Clover Bottoms on Blue Stone 
or between that and the lower war road on Blue Stone." 

Robertson was very much imjDressed with the danger that 
threatened the inhabitants of the Upper New River settlements and 
of Reed Creek, on account of the ease with which the Indians could 
come up the Sandy route and slip between the outposts on New 
River and those on the headwaters of the Clinch. This caused him 
to communicate his fears to Colonel Preston as follows: "Unless 
you keep your own side of the mountain well guarded there them 
stragling little partys will do Abundance of Damage. Where People 
is gathered in forts there ouglit to be men under Pay Just Ready 
on any Occasion these Small partys passes Scouts and Companys 
without Possibly being Discovered." 

Fearing that he might be censured for not discovering and driving 
back the scaljjing party that murdered the Lybrook and Snidow chil- 
dren, Robertson declared that if his own life and honour, and the 
lives of all his relations, and the lives of all his well wishers had been 
at stake he could have done no more than he did do to prevent the 
horrible catastrophe at Lybrook's. He saw that all the border settle- 
ments were greatly endangered, and knew the importance of 
strengthening the defences on the line from New River to Cumber- 
land Gap, That he and his men were anxious for the safety of their 
own families, who lived in the Upper New River settlements, was 
shown by his writing Colonel Preston: "I suppose my helpless 
family is in great fear, and indeed not without reason." 

Major Arthur Campbell, v/ho was in charge of all the military 
forces and defences west of New River, was so solicitous for the 
safety of the settlements on the Clinch that, as soon as the news 
reached him of the Sinking Ci-eek massacre, he sent express mes- 
sengers to Captains Russell and Smith bearing duplicates of the 
following urgent orders : 

"Royal-Oak Augt. 9, 1774 

Dear Sir — I have this moment Received intelligence of several 
people being killed last Monday by the Indians on Sinking Creek 
about 10 miles from Colo. Prestons. This makes it necessary that 
we should be strictly on our guard lest some straggling party should 
visit us. Therefore endeavour without loss of time to get the inhabi- 
tants in your Company collected together in 2 or 3 convenient places 
for forts, and let them keep up strict and regular Duty until more 



284 History of Tazewell County 

men can be sent over to assist them wliich I will endeavor to have 
done with all possible speed. This alarm will retard the expedition 
at least a week, therefore all young men that chooses to do regular 
duty may be taken into pay. I expect an Express tomorrow from 
Colo. Preston after which you shall have further Instructions. Pray 
do everything in your power for the safety of the Inhabitants. 
I am Dr. Sir, very sincerely yours 

Arthur Campbell 
On his Majestys service 
To Captain Daniel Smith on Clinch." 

It seems that Captains Russell and Smith proceeded without 
delay to execute the orders sent them by Major Campbell. On the 
24th of August, two weeks after transmitting tlie said orders to 
Russell and Smith, Major Campbell notified Colonel Preston that 
he had received a petition from the inhabitants of the Clinch Valley 
requesting that they be regularly employed in the service and also 
asking that the number then on duty be enlarged. Campbell wrote 
Colonel Preston that he declined to grant the petition "without 
orders frpm you;" but reported: "I let the Gentlemen know, that 
the inhabitants that strictly did regular Duty might be continued on 
the Lists until a sufficient Number of Draughts might arrive to 
complete the Corapanys and then I would recommend it to the Offi- 
cers to keep the best Woodsmen of ye Inhabitants in pay for the 
purpose of ranging in preference to any that might offer themselves 
from Holston or New River." 

Major Campbell's apprehension that the Sinking Creek massacre 
would delay the march of the Lewis expedition to Ohio was well 
founded. The enlistment of the number of men called for from 
Fincastle County liad been greatly retarded by jealousies and rival- 
ries among the militia officers of the Holston Valley. These dis- 
sensions had given much trouble to both Major Campbell and Colonel 
Preston; and when they had about succeeded in getting the trouble 
imder control the massacre of the Lybrook and Snidow children 
occurred. This horrible incident made many of the frontiersmen 
reluctant to go with the expedition and leave their families exposed 
to the scalping bands of Indians. The men of the Upper Clinch 
Valley had been doing much volunteer scouting and ranging service 
without compensation for such service, other than the protection of 
their own settlements, while the ranging parties sent out from the 



and Southwest Virginia 285 

New River and Holston settlements had been receiving pay for 
their service. The war which was on hand involved the protection 
and welfare of all the settlements west of New River; and the men 
of the Clinch Valley very justly held that they should be regularly 
employed in the service, with compensation, as were the men of the 
more populous settlements on the Holston and New River. 

On the 16th of August, Captain William Russell, who had given 
his fort at Castle's Woods the name of "Fort Preston," wrote to 
Colonel Preston from that place, notifying him that he was ready 
and anxious to march with his company "to the appointed place of 
Rondezvous" for the Lewis expedition. Captain Russell also said 
in his letter to Colonel Preston: "I hope Sir you will think it abso- 
lutely necessary to have two Captains to Command on Clinch at this 
Critical season, that ought to be ranging, besides those in the Forts, 
as Constant Guards to the Inhabitants." 

Captain Russell clearly saw that the passes at the heads of the 
several branches of Sandy River were not being properly guarded 
at a time which he pronounced a "critical season." And he sug- 
gested that Captain James Thompson, who had been appointed to 
command a company stationed at Fort Blackmore, in the present 
Scott County, should be transferred to a command "towards the head 
of the River." The anxiety of Captain Russell for the protection 
of the inhabitants at the head of the Clinch was so great that he 
made the following personal appeal to Colonel Preston: "Should 
I be granted a Command, and it be agreeable to you and Capt. 
Thompson, should be proud if it could be your pleasure to appoint 
him towards the head of the River, as that will give him a more 
Immediate opportunity of securing the Inhabitants about his 
Father's, and even his own." 

Captain Thompson was a very near and dear kinsman of Colonel 
Preston. Thompson was the grandson of Colonel James Patton, 
and Colonel Preston was nephew of Patton. But this strong per- 
sonal appeal to the county lieutenant of Fincastle County did not 
procure two Captains with companies for the head of the Clinch; 
and Captain Daniel Smith was retained in command of the upper 
stations in the Valley. 

Colonel Preston surely must have believed that the pioneers had 
settled on the headwaters of the Clinch with a resolute purpose of 
remaining there; and that they would not only be able to take care 
of themselves, but would also afford a strong barrier against Indja^j 



286 History of Tazewell County 

incursions into the Holston and Reed Creek settlements. Captain 
Russell's letter of the lUth of August was well calculated to 
strengthen this conclusion in Preston's mind. When Russell gave 
the number he would take with him on the Ohio expedition he said: 
"There are about thirty that will certainly go with me; and Capt. 
Smith says Wm Bowen has four that will go with me." These four 
were, William Bowen and his two brothers, Reese and Moses, and 
David Ward; and the four made good by going and doing valiant 
service on the expedition. There were others from the Upper 
Clinch Valley who were at Point Pleasant, whose names will be 
mentioned in succeeding pages. 

In the meantime Captain Daniel Smith proceeded to carry out 
the orders of Major Campbell to gather the inhabitants in the forts, 
and to enlist men regularly for the several stations in his charge. 
Lists of the garrisons at the Maiden Spring Fort and Thomas Wit- 
ten's fort at the Crab Orchard were left among the papers of Colonel 
William Preston ; and they are worthy of a place of honor in a his- 
tory of Tazewell County. I copy them from Thwaites' Dunmore's 
War: \ 

At The Maiden's Springs Station 26th. Aug^ 1774. 

Mr. Robt. Brown, Sergeant till 23rd Sep* then Joseph Cravens. 

Henry Willis 

Joseph Cravens 

James MClehany discharged 19th. Oct. 55 days 

James Cravens 

John Jameson listed 29th Aug* disch. 19th Octo 53 days 

James Rogers 

Thomas Brumly listed 22"^ Aug* disch. 19th Oct. 60 days 

And'^^ Lammy listed 16th. Aug* ith Sep* Saml. Fowler came in 
his room 

John Flintham listed 14th. Augt. disch. 19th. Oct. 68 days 

James Douglas INI. S. 

John Newland W. 1 

Samuel Paxton W. 1- listed Sept 14th. discharged 22nd. 8 days 

Philip Dutton W. J 

John Cravens 23rd. Sept. M. S. 

Rees Bowen Aug. 26- Sept. 2 

David Ward Aug. 26- Sept. 2 

Robt. Cravens Nov. 1st. - Nov. 18 



and Southwest Virginia 287 

Rees Bowen and David Ward were discharged on the 2nd of 
Sept. so that they could go with Captain Russell on the expedition 
to Ohio; and Robt Cravens enlisted as a member of the Maiden 
Spring gari'ison after he i-eturned from Ohio. 
At The Upper Station 
(This was Witten's Fort. — Auth.) 
Mr. John Campbell Ensig-n 

Isaac Spratt 1 Sergeant 25th. Sept. went away 

George Dohorty j without leave 
■ Andw. Steel Oct. 18th disch 64 days 
John Hambleton disch 18th Oct. 64 days 
Alexr. Grant deserted 8th. Sept. 
David Bustar (Bruster) 



listed 
15 Augt. 



29th Augt. I ^^ Thompson 

Edward Sharp 7th. Sept. listed, disch. 21st. 14 days 

Michael Glaves. 6th. Sept. went away without leave 7th. Octr. 

James Fullen 5th. Sej)t. disch. 21st. 16 days 

James Edwards 5th. Sept. went away without leave 30th. Sept. 

John Williams 7th. Sept. disch. 16th. 9 days 

Thomas Potter 5th. Sept. went away without leave 7th. Oct. 

came back. 
Levi Bishop 8th. Sept. Do Do 22d. Sept. 
Robert Manford (Moffett) 8th. Sept. 
Alexander Henderson 15th. Sept. went away 12th. Oct. 
Francis Hambleton 15th. Sept. went out without leave 25th. 

Sept. came back 
John Crafford 15th. Sept. discharged 24th. 10 days 
Isiah Hambleton 15th. Sept. 22nd. Sept. went away without 

leave 
Benjamin Rediford 15th Sept. 25th. Sept. Do 
George Vant 15th. Sept. 26th. went away, came back Oct. 1st. 
And^ Branstead 15th. 1 Sept. 26th. Do 
James Mitchell 15th. f Sept. 26th. Do Do 

Rowland Williams Do 

Mr Thomas Whitten senr appointed Sergeant 2Gth. Sept. 

Thomas Whitten jur Octo. 1st. 

John Grinup Do. 

Francis Hynes Do. 



288 History of Tazewell County 

Samuel Doack listed Octo. 1st. went away 12th. Oct. 

Thomas Rogers Do. Do. 

John Lashly Do. Do. 

Wm. King Octo. 1st. 

Thos Meads Do. 

Jacob Kindar Do. 

Daniel Henderson ) ^ 

„ ,-. , y Oct. 10th. 

Peter Kinder ^ 

Jonathan Edwards in his brothers room 6th. Oct. 

Christian Bergman 6th. Oct. 

Michael Razor 24th. Octo. 

Jeremiah Whitton 27th. Oct. 

It may seem strange that so many of the men who were stationed 
at the Witten fort "went away without leave." There was but one 
man marked as a deserter; and it is, no doubt, a fact that all those 
who absented themselves from the post did so because it was neces- 
sary to save their corn crops. The officers at the station were evi- 
dently without authority to grant leaves of absence, but, knowing 
the necessity for the men going home, acquiesced in their departure 
and did not class them as deserters. This conclusion is supported 
by the fact that some of the absentees returned to duty without 
reproof from their officers. 

Along with the lists of the men who were stationed at the Maiden 
Spring and Crab Orchard forts, was a list of the persons who acted 
as scouts in the Upper Clinch Valley during the summer and fall of 
1774. This list was also found among the papers of Colonel Wil- 
liam Preston, and is as follows: 

Scouts. 
William Bowen Aug. 12th 

James Fowler 

Tho^ Maxwell 10 days June 11th 

Rees Bowan 
David Ward 

John Kingkeid 17 days 

Wm. Priest 7 days 

John Sharp 10 days 

Wm. Crabtree 
Samuel Hays 
Robt. Davis 15 days of his time to go to Robt. Moffet. 



and Southwest Virginia 289 

William Wynne's fort at Locust Hill was not garrisoned by a 
regularly enlisted force. However it was protected by a volunteer 
garrison, composed of the Wynne's, Harmans, Peerys, Butlers^ 
Evans', Carrs, and other settlers of the neighborhood. This was at 
that time the most thickly settled community within the bounds of 
the present Tazewell County ; and the fort was so favorably situated 
that its defence was easy. 



T.H,— 19 



290 History of Tazewell County 



CHAPTER IX. 

FINCASTLE MEN CALLED FOR OHIO EXPEDITION INDIANS INVADE 

CLINCH AND HOLSTON SETTLEMENTS. 

After sending his order of the 12th of July to Colonel Andrew 
Lewis, directing him to raise a body of men and march to the mouth 
of the Kanawha and build a fort there, Lord Dunmore went to the 
fort at Winchester, Virginia. From that place the governor wrote 
Lewis on the 24th of July, 1774, notifying him that conditions were 
so serious in the Upper Ohio Valley that he had determined to go 
to Fort Dunmore (formerly Fort Pitt) at Pittsburg, and from that 
place conduct an expedition down the Ohio River, to strike the 
Indians a blow that would break up their confederacy. Governor 
Dunmore directed Lewis "to a raise a respectable body of men" and 
join him at the mouth of the Kanawha as quickly as possible. He 
also wrote Lewis: "I wish you would acquaint Col° Preston of con- 
tents of this Letter that those he sends out may join you, and pray 
be as explicit as you can as to the time and place of meeting." 

In the last days of August, Captain William Russell began his 
march with the Clinch Valley contingent, about forty men, to join 
the other Fincastle troops at a point on New River. About the 1st 
of September the Fincastle troojDS, some two hundred in number, 
under the command of Colonel William Christian took up their 
march and on the 6th of September arrived at the ajapointed place 
for assembling, the Great Levels of Greenbrier, then named Camp 
Union. The next day, the 7th of September, Colonel Christian wrote 
Colonel Preston that Colonel Lewis said that the nvmiber of men who 
had come to the camp exceeded his expectations, and that not more 
than 100 more men should be sent from Fincastle County to join the 
expedition. John Floyd and others were still engaged in enlisting 
companies of men to go on the campaign ; and Colonel Lewis was 
afraid he could not secure and convey enough provisions for the 
subsistence of the number of men that had already assembled. There 
was another serious trouble upon Colonel Lewis. He had a small 
supply of powder, only one-fourth of a pound for each man who 
carried a gun, about six shots to the man. This was a very small 
supply of powder for such a dangerous expedition, and shows how 
desperately daring were the mountaineer pioneers. No doubt 



and Southwest Virginia 291 

Colonel Lewis recalled the Sandy Expedition of 1756, which was 
under his command and had to endure such terrible hardships from 
a lack of provisions and ammunition. He wisely determined to take 
no more men with this expedition, his second effort to reach the 
Shawnee towns, than could be furnished with ample supplies of 
provisions and ammunition. From a report made to Colonel Preston, 
Lewis then had with him about 1400 men. His little army was com- 
posed of volunteers and militia from the counties of Augusta, Bote- 
tourt and Fincastle, a company of volunteers from Culpeper County, 
commanded by Colonel John Field, and a company from Bedford 
County, under the command of Captain Thomas Buford. The men 
from Augusta were commanded by Colonel Charles Lewis, brother 
of Colonel Andrew Lewis ; the Botetourt troops by Colonel William 
Fleming; and those from Fincastle by Colonel William Christian, as 
previously related. 

The day the Fincastle troops arrived at Camp Union, the 6th 
of September, they found that Colonel Charles Lewis had marched 
with about 600 Augusta troops toward the mouth of the Kanawha. 
Colonel Christian wrote to Colonel Preston: "His business is to 
proceed as far as the mouth of Elk & there to make canoes to take 
down the flour. He took with him 500 Pack Horses carrying 54,000 
pounds of flour & 108 Beeves." Colonel Christian then stated that 
he had been apprised by Colonel Andrew Lewis that he would 
start with the Botetourt troops in a few days, and leave the Fincastle 
troops at Camp Union to bring up the rear some days later. 
Christian thought this would greatly dissatisfy his men, as they 
were eager to be with the advance troops. On the 12th of Septem- 
ber, Colonel Christian wrote Colonel Preston: "CoP Lewis has just 
marched with CoP Fleming and the Botetourt Troops, with an addi- 
tion of Cap*^ Shelby & Cap* Russell's companies from Fincastle and 
has left under my care the remaining part of the Fincastle men, a 
few Culpeper, Dunmore (Shenandoah) and Augusta men, and 
ordered me to stay for the return of the pack horses that went with 
Ch : Lewis, which I shall look for along this day week. I have dis- 
patched Mr. Posey towards Staunton to hurry out all the flour pos- 
sible by that time and several persons are employed in gathering 
beeves. There is gone on 72,000 wt of flour. There is now here 
about 8 thousand, and 130 horse loads to be here tomorrow night, 
96 loads at the Warm Springs which I have to send back for, & I 
suppose there is between 30 and 40,000 weight beyond the Springs. 



292 History of Tazewell County 

I purpose to march this day week with all that can be had or a day 
or two after if possible." 

This shows that the expedition was amply provisioned; and 
the future accomplishments of the little army proved that it had 
sufficient ammunition, received from sources that the records pre- 
served do not disclose. 



August the 25th, 1774, Colonel William Preston sent the fol- 
lowing written orders to Major Arthur Campbell, looking to the 
defence of the settlements on Clinch River: 

"Sir — Agreeable to the Conclusion come to by a Council of 
the Militia Officers of this County, the second of this month, for 
the Denfence of the Frontiers, in the absence of the Troops, I 
ordered Capt. Thompson with sixty men to guard the lower settle- 
ments on Clinch, which duty I suppose he is upon by or before 
this time; & as the upper Settlements are still uncovered, I would 
have you appoint Capt. Daniel Smith to that Service, with such 
Officers as you think proper; & there must be thirty men draughted 
from Capt. Herberts & the late Capt. Doacks Companies. The men 
are to be disposed of along that Frontier as was agreed on at the 
meeting of the Officers above mentioned. 

"I would also request that you would examine carefully into the 
number of scouts on that quarter, and, if you see it necessary, to 
abridge them. You will likewise make enquiry, how they, & each 
of them, have performed the trust reposed in them, and make report 
to me accordingly." 

Wm. Preston 
(To Major Campbell) 

Aug. 25th 1774" 

Up to this time no substantial help had been given to the inhabi- 
tants of the Upper Clinch Valley for the defence of the dangerous 
frontier on which they were living. The list of men stationed at 
Witten's fort at Crab Orchard, published on a preceding page, indi- 
cates that a few men were sent from the Holston Valley in com- 
pliance with the order of Colonel Preston. It is certain that Ensign 
John Campbell, who was a brother of Major Arthur Campbell, and 
Issac Spratt and Levi Bishop were from that Valley as they were 
then living on the north and south forks, respectively, of the Holston 
River, within the bounds of the present Smyth County. The inhabi- 



and Southwest Virginia 293 

tants of the Holston Valley were more in dread of Indian incur- 
sions than were the settlers on the Clinch, and there was good reason 
for their fears. They had no forts on the North Fork of Holston, 
and there were but two on the Middle Fork of that river, Campbell's 
fort at Royal Oak, and Thompson's fort at Town House (Chil- 
howie). If the men from the Holston region had gone to the Clinch 
to perform garrison duty, they would have been compelled to leave 
their families unprotected, or to place them in Campbell's or Thomp- 
son's fort. Therefore, it is not surprising that so few of them went 
to the forts on the Clinch for service. 

While the Lewis expedition was marching to the Ohio Valley, 
small bands of Shawnees and Mingos began to invade the Clinch and 
Holston valleys and make murderous attacks upon the inhabitants. 
The Indians kept spies hovering about Lewis' little army as it 
marched to the Ohio ; and took advantage of the absence of the men, 
who were with the expedition, to kill and rob the unprotected people 
left in the Clinch and Holston settlements. The first attack by the 
Indians upon the settlers in the Upper Clinch Valley was made on 
the 8th of September, 1774. On that day a band of 12 or 15 
Indians were in Thompson Valley, and about daybreak killed John 
Henry and his wife and three small children. Bickley, in his His- 
tory of Tazewell, has related the incident in very interesting style, 
and his account of the occurrence will be quoted in succeeding pages 
of this volume, along with his accounts of all the massacres that 
were committed in Tazewell County by the Indians. Dr. Bickley 
made a mistake as to the date of the Henry massacre, placing it in 
May, 1776. 

Henry was living in Thompson Valley, on the southside of Rich 
Mountain, a short distance east of Plum Creek Gap, upon land now 
owned by Archie Thompson. He had settled there in the month of 
May preceding. In a letter dated, "Royal Oak, Sept. 9th. 1774," 
Major Arthur Campbell made a report of the attack upon the Henry 
family, which he said occurred the morning of the previous day, that 
is the 8th of September, 1774. Henry was standing in his door 
when two Indians fired at him, inflicting a mortal wound. He 
realized that he could do nothing for the protection of his wife and 
children and Major Campbell says: "He immediately ran to the 
woods; and shortly after, accidentally met with Old Jno. Hamilton 
who concealed him in a thicket until he should go and alarm the 
Fort, and bring him assistance. Hamilton had the courage to go 



294 History of Tazewell County 

to Henry's House ; but saw nothing, either of the Indians, or of the 
woman and children." The woman and three children had been 
killed and scalped and piled up a short distance from the house, 
and in that way escaped Hamilton's notice, which caused him to 
report their capture. Hamilton was one of the enlisted men at 
Witten's fort at the Crab Orchard, which was about three miles 
distant from the scene of the massacre ; and his name appears upon 
the list of the garrison as "John Hamhleton." 

On his way to the fort, Hamilton met John Bradshaw. whom 
Bickley says had settled in the valley, two miles west of the present 
town of Tazewell, in 1771. Bradshaw had been alarmed by discov- 
ering some Indian signs in his corn field that morning and had 
started over to Rich Valley, in the present Smyth County, where his 
family had gone on a visit. He struck out through the woods, passed 
by the Henry home, and at a jDoint about three miles from the 
scene of the tragedj'^ came upon a place where twelve or fifteen 
Indians had breakfasted, as shown by provisions they had left, and 
other signs. From that place he followed the tracks of the red men 
a short distance and found they were directing their course toward 
the Rich Valley. He made a rapid journey to that valley and gave 
warning that night to as many of the settlers as possible ; and they 
began to gather at a Mr. Harrison's who lived on what Major Camp- 
bell called "the main path to Clinch in the Rich Valley, opposite 
to the Town-House." Other inhabitants of the valley fled to the 
fort at Royal Oak; among these was the wife of Ensign John Camp- 
/bell, who was in charge of the garrison at Witten's fort ; and Archi- 
bald and John Buchanan with their families. The families of the 
two Buchanans made a narrow escape from the Indians. These 
Buchanans were brothers, and cousins of Colonel John Buchanan, 
the surveyor. John Buchanan lived in the Locust Cove, and his 
wife was a sister of Colonel Buchanan. Archibald Buchanan, lived 
near the mouth of Cove Creek that empties into the Noi-th Fork of 
Holston. He afterwards moved to the present Washington County, 
and is the ancestor of most of the Buchanans who now live in Taze- 
well Count}^, his brother John being the ancestor of the other Taze- 
well Buchanans. After murdering the Henry family, the Indians, 
evidently, crossed Clinch Mountain into Poor Valley and passed over 
Brushy Mountain into the Locust Cove; and then traveled down 
Cove Creek to where it enters the North Fork of Holston River. A 
short distance above that point, about a mile above the mouth of 



and Southwest Virginia 295 

Cove Creek, they made Samuel Lammey a captive. They must 
have come upon L ammey alone, as his family had been sent to Camp- 
bell's fort at Royal Oak, after the warning given by Bradshaw to 
the Rich Valley settlers. The Indians then started on their home- 
ward journey, crossed the Clincli Valley, with their prisoner, passed 
through Roarks' Gap, and followed Dry Fork to its confluence with 
Tug River. 

The next attack made by the Indians also occurred within the 
bounds of the present Tazewell County. There were three Indians 
in the attacking party, and they were evidently a part of the band 
that massacred the Henrys and went over to Rich Valley. It was 
the custom of the Indians when they made hostile visits to the border 
settlements to break up into small bands and scatter their attacks 
upon the cabins of the most isolated and unprotected inhabitants. 
This plan made escape easier from pursuing parties sent out by the 
settlers. On the 13th of September, five days after the Henrys 
were murdered, three Indians made an attack upon a soldier who 
was out hunting or scouting about half a mile from the fort at 
Maiden Spring. The Indians shot at the soldier, but failed to hit 
him. He shot one of tliem so severely that tlie wound proved fatal. 
Major Arthur Campbell, in reporting the affair to Colonel Preston, 
said: "A party of our people happened to be within 300 yards when 
the gims were fired; thej^ soon were at the place of action, and give 
the remaining two Indians a good chase. The wounded fellow found 
means to get into a large cave or pit within 70 or 80 yds. of the 
place where he was shot; in which it is supposed he is dead, as he 
fell when he was shot, and bled a good deal. I have one of the 
plugs now in m}^ liouse that burst out of his wound a few steps from 
the tree he stood behind when he was shot. The pit is to be searched 
by means of letting a man down in it by ropes with lights, as our 
men are anxious to get his scalp." This cave is about a half mile 
South of Maiden Spring and the Bowen homestead. 

Major Campbell also reported that on the evening of the 13th 
Captain Smith's scouts discovered the tracks of a party of the enemy 
going oif with horses and prisoners they had taken. From this it 
appears that others besides Lammey had been made captives ; but 
Campbell still thought that Henry's wife and children had been 
made prisoners by the Indians, thougli Mrs. Henry and all the 
children, except one little boy, were afterwards found by a com- 
))any of men wlio went to the Henry home, dead, scalped and piled 



296 History of Tazewell County 

up on a ridge a short distance from the house. The Indians when 
they made their forays always stole as many horses as they could 
find, which they used to carry awaj'^ the plunder they took and their 
captives. Captain Smith when informed by his scouts of the inva- 
sion set out with a partj'^ of twenty-one men in pursuit of them, but 
was unable to overtake them. At that time there was a very small 
number of men on the Upper Clinch region employed as scouts. 
They had to cover and guard a number of passes along a front of 







This is a view of the Bowen homestead, antl no more lieautiful 
pastoral scene can be found anywhere. The Avhite cross mark is very 
near the spot where Rees Bowen built his fort in 1773. Rees Bowen 
the 5th now owns and occupies the splendid estate. 

fifty miles ; and could not do tlie work effectively, no matter how 
skilled and daring they miglit be as woodsmen. Major Campbell 
Icnew that these passes were not properly guarded ; and in his reports 
to Colonel Preston, sent on the 9th and 17th of September, com- 
plained, because not a man from Doack's or Herbert's companies 
had yet gone to help guard the Clinch Valley frontier, though Pres- 
ton had ordered, on the 25th of August, that thirty men from these 
companies be drafted and sent there. 

Small parties of Indians next invaded the Clinch Valley in the 
present Scott County, and also the lower settlements on the Hols- 
ton. The first outrage they committed was at or near Fort Black- 
more on the Clinch, when two negroes were captured and a number 



and Southwest Virginia 297 

of cattle and horses stolen from the settlers. The garrison at the 
fort was so small that the men were afraid to go out and encounter 
the Indians, not knowing the number in the party. This so embold- 
ened the Indians, who hoped to capture the fort, that they brought 
the two negroes in full view of the fort and made them run the 
gauntlet. 

In the afternoon of the following day, the 24th of September, 
John Roberts and his wife and several children were killed, and 
the eldest child, James, a boy ten years of age, was made a captive 
by a band of Shawnees and Mingos under the leadership of Logan, 
the noted Mingo chief. This massacre occurred on Reedy Creek, 
an affluent of the North Fork of Holston, and the place was then 
supposed to be within the bounds of Fincastle County, Virginia ; and 
it was, but afterwards it was found that it had been given to Ten- 
nessee through carelessness of the Virginia commissioners when the 
boundry line was run between North Carolina and Virginia in 1802. 
Logan left in the Roberts cabin a war club, with a letter tied to the 
club and addressed to Captain Cresap. The original, when found, 
was sent to Major Arthur Campbell, and by him forwarded to 
Colonel William Preston on the 12th of October, 1774. The letter 
was written on a piece of birch bark and with ink made from gun- 
powder. It had been prepared before Logan left Ohio with his 
scalping party ; and was written, at his dictation, by a white man 
named William Robinson, who was captured on the Monongahela 
River, July 12th, carried to the Indians towns, saved from the stake 
by Logan, and adopted into an Indian family. Before he sent the 
letter to Captain Cresap, Colonel Preston made a copy on the back 
of the letter IMajor Campbell had written him when he forwarded 
the Indian chief's letter from Royal Oak. This copy was found 
among the Preston paj^ers and is as follows: 

"To Captain Cressap — W^hat did you kill my people on Yellow 
Creek for. The white People Killed my Kin at Coneestoga a great 
while ago, & I thought nothing of that. But you Killed my Kin 
again on Yellow Creek ; and took my cousin prisoner, then I thought 
I must Kill too; and I have been three times to war since but the 
Indians is not Angrj' only myself. 

Captain John Logan 
July 21st. Day." 

In his mention of the killing of his kin at Conestoga, Logan 



298 History of Tazewell County 

refers to what was called the Paxton riot, which occurred in 17G3 
in Pennsylvania, when twenty inoffensive, friendly Conestoga 
Indians were brutallj^ murdered by a mob of border desperadoes. 

Further outrages were committed in rapid succession upon the 
inhabitants of both the Clinch and the Holston. The people in the 
Holston Valley were so alarmed by Indian marauding bands that the 
men refused to comply with the orders of Colonel Preston and 
Major Campbell to send reinforcements to the Clinch Valley set- 
tlers to help guard the passes on the frontier. At the same time 
powder and lead became very scarce, the settlers on the Clinch 
having been compelled to use their amunition to protect their crops 
during the summer and fall from destruction by nvmierous wild 
animals. Flour was also wanted badly at Blackmore's and at the 
head of the Clinch. That powder was dangerously scarce is proven 
by the fact that when Major Campbell was sending a company of 
militia, on the 29th, of September, 1771, to repel or pursue a band 
of Indians^ he wrote Colonel Preston: 

"I luckily procured one pound & a half of powder before the 
militia went out, which I divided to such as had none, 3 loads apiece, 
which they went verj' cheerfully on. If you could possibly spare 
me one or two pounds I would divide it in the same, sparing man- 
ner, in case of another alarm." 

On Thursday, Sept'i^mber 29th. a very bold attack was made 
upon three men by the Indians witliin oOO yards of Moore's Fort on 
the Clinch, six miles below Castle's Woods. The attack was made 
between sunset and dark, and the Indians fired at the men from 
ambush, instantly killing a man named John Duncan. Though a 
party of men rushed from the fort and ran to the spot as soon as 
the guns were fired, the Indians succeeded in scalping Dvmcan and 
made their escape. Night came on and prevented any pursuit until 
the following morning, when it was too late to overhaul the savages. 
Daniel Boone was then in charge of the fort at Moore's and was 
supervising all the forts on the Clinch below Elk Garden. Although 
he was one of the most accomplished of the woodsmen and Indian 
fighters on the border, he was supported b}' such small and indif- 
ferent squads of men stationed at the several forts that he was 
unable to cope successfully with the wiley red men, who in most 
instances were being directed by the daring and intelligent John 
Logan. 



and Southwest Virginia 299 

Boone sent an express messenger to Major Campbell on the 30th 
of September, to inform him of the killing of Duncan, and also told 
him that the Indians were still lurking about Fort Blackmore, 
where the two negroes liad recently been captured and "coursed" 
in front of the fort; and that Captain Looney, who was in charge 
of the fort, had only eleven men and could not venture to attack or 
pursue the enemy. The situation at Russell's fort, at Castle's Woods, 
was also so serious that the people there were crying for help. 
Captain Dan Smith, on the 4th, of September, wrote to Colonel 
William Preston, saying: "The late Invasions of the Indians hath 
so much alarm'd the Inhabitants of this River that without more 
men come to their assistance from other parts, some of the most 
timorous among us will remove to a place of Safety, and when once 
the example is set I fear it will be followed by many. By what I 
can learn the terror is as great on Holston, so that we've no room 
to hope for assistance from that quarter. * * * * J am just 
going to the assistance of the Castle's Woods men with what force 
could be spared from this upper district." At the foot of the letter, 
CajDtain Smith made a list of the men he was taking with him to 
assist the alarmed garrison at Castle's Woods. They were: 

Vincent Hobbs Wm. McaDoo 

Thos. Shannon John Mares (Marrs) 

Robert Brown Joseph Mares (Mari's) 

Saul Cecil David Pattorn (Patton) 

John Smith Israel Harmon 

Wm. Baylstone Thos. Maxwell 

Holton Money (Mooney) Joseph Turner 

Samll. Money (Mooney) Wm. Magee 

From an inspection of the above list it seems that the inhabi- 
tants of the headwaters of the Clinch and Bluestone wei*e taking 
pretty good care of themselves, and were willing and able to help 
protect their more "timorous" neighbors lower down on the Clinch. 
Nearly every man on this roll was from the Upper Clinch section, 
now in Tazewell County, and a number of the names are still repre- 
sented in the county — among them Marrs, Brown, Cecil, Patton, 
Maxwell, Shannon and Harman. Three months previous to using 
the Tazewell men for relief of the garrison at Castle's Woods, Cap- 
tain Smith had written Colonel Preston, preferring charges against 
Thomas Maxwell and. Israel Harmon for neglect of duty as scouts 



300 History of Tazewell County 

at the head of Sandy Creek. He accused them of cowardice, because 
they were removing their families from the head of the north foi-k 
of Clinch and Bluestone and taking them to places of safety ; and 
Smith was asking that Thomas Maxwell be court-martialed. Cap- 
tain Smith, evidently, had found that he had made a grievous mis- 
take as to the courage of Maxwell and Harmon; and was trying to 
make amends for the wrong lie had done them, by selecting them to 
become protectors of the "timorous" inhabitants living in his own 
section of the Clinch Valley. 

About the 1st, of October the people in the Holston Valley and 
in the Upper New River region were apparently terror-stricken. A 
man by the name of George Adams, who lived on the Holston, wrote 
to Colonel Preston and told him that the people about Moccasin 
Gap had all fled from their homes; and that some of them had 
gathered at his house. He begged that a few men be sent out to 
go with the Moccasin people to their homes and guard them while 
they gathei'ed their crops, which he said were large but being 
destroyed by the "vermin" (wild animals) ; and that the men would 
have to take their families to other forts, if they lost their grain. 
Adams also said; "ammunition is very scarce with us which is the 
occasion of abundance of fear." 

On the 6th, of October, 1774, Major Campbell wrote Colonel 
Preston from Royal Oak and very graphically portrayed the state 
of alarm that then prevailed on the Holston, and on New River. 
He said: 

"The people in the Wolf-Hill settlement, (the present Abing- 
don) will have the Indians to come up the Valley & North fork, 
opposite to them, and then make a Right-Angle to their habitations ; 
the people on ye south fork will have the Enemy, to steal Slyly up 
the Iron Mountain, and make one Grand attack on the Head of 
Holston, and Sweep the River down before them ; The Head of New 
River will have it, that the Cherokees will fetch a Compass, round 
Wattago Settlement, and come down New River, on a particular 
Search for their Scalps. The Rich- Valley and North fork people 
will have Sandy the dangerous i3ass, for proof of which they quote 
former and recent Instances; to wit Stalnaker & Henrys Family 
being carried out the same road." 

This looks like consternation reigned supreme throughout the 
settlements west of New River, with one exception. The exception 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 301 

was the settlements on the headwaters of the Clinch, where our 
pioneer ancestors were not calling for help, but were remaining 
at their frontier homes and forts, resolved to hold them against the 
savages, or yield up their lives in their defence. This they were 
doing, though some of their best and mightiest woodsmen had gone 
with the Lewis expedition to Ohio, and others were being sent to 
succor the threatened and alarmed inhabitants lower down the river, 
where Logan was still operating with his scalping parties. 

The next attempt to inflict damage on the settlers was near the 
fort of Captain Evan Shelby, which was located on the site of 
Bristol, Tennessee, and which was called in frontier days Sapling 
Grove. It happened on the 6th of October, 1 774, and when Captain 
Shelby was nearing the mouth of the Kanawha with his company of 
Fincastle riflemen, who were an important unit of the Lewis expedi- 
tion. The Indians, who had been prowling and spying in the neigh- 
borhood, surprised and captured a negro girl, the property of Cap- 
tain Shelby, within 300 yards of his fort. Their purpose in making 
her a captive was to get information about the fort. They tried to 
find out how many guns were in the fort, what amount of supplies 
was there, and the relative strength of the place. Several questions 
were asked the negro girl by the Indians, but she loyally and bravely 
refused to give them any information. Thereupon, the red men 
knocked her down twice, and started away with her. After they had 
gone about a mile from the fort they heard a boy passing who was 
on his way home from mill, and they tied the girl to a tree and 
went in pursuit of the boy. During their absence, the girl managed 
to get loose, and ran immediately to the fort and gave an alarm. 
Whether the boy was captured and taken away is not shown by 
accessible records, and the presumption is that he escaped. 

On the 6th of October, a very daring murder was committed at 
Fort Blackmore, in the present Scott County, when Dale Carter 
was killed and scalped within fifty-five steps of the fort. Carter 
was sitting alone on a log outside the fort. The Indians had crawled 
along and under the bank of the river with the view of making a 
surprise attack upon the place and capturing it by a bold push. 
Carter happened to discover the enemy and immediately gave the 
alarm by "hallooing, murder." One of the Indians fired at Carter 
and missed him, but another fired and wounded him through the 
thigh. One of the boldest of the red men, possibly Logan, ran up 
and tomahawked and scalped the wounded man. A man by the 



302 History of Tazewell County 

name of Anderson fired from the bastion of the fort at the daring 
Indian while he was scalping Carter, but failed to hit him. Dale 
Carter was the ancestor of the Hon. Henry Carter Stuart, lately 
governor of Virginia, and of all the Carters of Russell County. 

While the revolting incidents that I have recounted were tak- 
ing place in The Clinch Valley and other sections of Fincastle 
County, the army of Virginia mountaineers, led by Andrew Lewis, 
was assembling and marching to the mouth of the Kanawha to join 
forces with Lord Dunmore at that place, as had been previously 
arranged. The knowledge the Indians had received of the object 
of this joint expedition — that is to discipline the hostile tribes in 
Ohio — no doubt, made the depredations in the Clinch Valley fewer 
and less violent than they would otherwise have been. It is probable 
that the small bands of Indians, with the great Logan leading them, 
were sent here for the puropse of so alarming the inhabitants as to 
demand a recall of the companies, eight in number, that had gone 
from that part of Fincastle County west of New River ; and in that 
way so weaken Lewis' army as to give the red men a chance to defeat 
the "Long Knives" when they crossed into Ohio. In fact, if the 
Indians were trying to work such a scheme, at one time their pur- 
pose came very near being accomplished. On the 26th of Sep- 
tember, just after he had been officially informed of the butchery of 
the Roberts family by Logan and his band. Major Campbell wrote 
to Colonel Preston an urgent request to send a messenger to Lewis' 
army to hurry the return of the men from Fincastle County, espec- 
ially the companies of Captains Russell and Shelby, whose families 
were in great distress and danger. 

A great deal of the alarm felt and shown by the people of the 
Holston and New River settlements was caused by apprehension 
that the Cherokees were secretly associated with the Shawnees and 
Mingos ; and that the Southern Indians would come in great force 
against the Fincastle inhabitants while such a large number of the 
best fighting men were away on the Ohio expedition. Colonel Pres- 
ton, however, did not take this view of the situation; but thought 
it probable "some straggling fellows" from the Cherokee Nation 
might have joined a party of Shawnees who had lately been at the 
Cherokee town, possibly Logan's band; and that they had since 
been committing robberies and murders on the Clinch and the Hol- 
ston. Colonel Preston also expressed the opinion that the Ohio 
Indians could not send any number of men at that time to annoy 



and Southwest Virginia 303 

the settlements, as they would be kept busily oceupied defending 
their own homes from attacks by the army which Lewis had taken 
to the mouth of the Kanawha, He was correct in his conclusions, as 
after events proved, and very wisely declined to recall the companies 
commanded by Russell and Shelby, or any part of the Fincastle 
troops that had gone with Lewis to Ohio. 



Soon after sending his orders of the 24<th of July, from Win- 
chester, Virginia, to Colonel Andrew Lewis to raise a respectable 
body of men and to meet him at the mouth of the Kanawha, Gov- 
ernor Dunmore proceeded to Pittsburg. He, as speedily as pos- 
sible, assembled the Delawares, Six Nations, and such other tribes 
as were disposed to be friendly, held a conference with them, and 
called their attention to the cruel treatment the Shav/nees and the 
Virginians were extending each other. This was done, Dunmore 
said, to secui-e the aid of the Delawares and other friendly disposed 
Indians in an effort to restore peaceful relations between the Vir- 
ginians and the Ohio Indians. The Delawares, and other tribes that 
were represented at the conference, not only gave assurance of their 
friendship for the whites, but consented to send delegations to the 
Shawnees and other hostile tribes, and to urge them to meet Gov- 
ernor Dunmore for a conference at some designated spot on the 
Ohio. In a report subsequently made to Lord Dartmouth, secretary 
of state for the colonies, Dunmore gave an account of his course of 
action after his conference with the Delawares. He wrote to Dart- 
mouth : 

"I determined therefore to go down the Ohio; but I thought it 
Prudent to take a Force which might effect our purpose if our 
. Negotiation failed: And I collected from the Militia of the Neigh- 
bouring Country about twelve hundred Men, to take with me, Send- 
ing orders to a Colonel Lewis to March with as many more, of the 
Militia of the Southern Counties, across the Country to Join me at 
the Mouth of the little Kanhaway, the Place I appointed to meet 
the Indians at. 

"I passed down the river with this body of Men, and arrived at 
the appointed place at the Stated time. The day after Some of our 
friends the Delawars arrived according to their promise; but they 
brought us the disagreeable information, that the Shawnees would 



304 History of Tazewell County 

listen to no terms, and were resolved to prosecute their designs 
against the People of Virginia. 

"The DelawarSj Notwithstanding, remained Steady in their 
attachment; and their Chief, named Captain White Eyes, offered me 
the assistance of himself and whole tribe; but apprehending evil 
effects from the Jealousy of, and natural dislike in our People 
to, all Indians, I accepted only of him and two or three: And I 
received great Service from the faithfullness, the firmness and 
remarkable good understanding of White Eyes. 

"Colonel Lewis not Joining me, and being unwilling to encrease 
the expence of the Country by delay, and, from the accounts we 
had of the Numbers of the Indians, Judging the Force I had with 
me Sufficient to defeat them and destroy their Towns, in case they 
should refuse the offers of Peace; and after Sending orders to 
Colonel Lewis, to follow me to a Place I appointed near the Indian 
Settlements, I crossed the Ohio and proceeded to the Shawnese 
Towns ; in which march, one of our detached Parties encountered 
an other of Indians laying in Ambush, of whom they killed Six 
or eight and took Sixteen Prisoners. 

"When we came up to the Towns we found them deserted, and 
the main body of the Indians, to the amount of near five hundred, 
had Some time before gone off towards the Ohio ; and we Soon learnt 
that they had Crossed the river, near the Mouth of the great Kanha- 
way, with the design of attacking the Coi-ps under Colonel Lewis." 

Governor Dunmore's expeditionary force was composed of 
troops he raised in the counties of Frederick and Dunmore (the 
latter now Shenandoah County), and forces he found at Pittsburg 
under the command of Colonel Angus McDonald and Major William 
Crawford. The combined forces aggregated twelve hundred splen- 
did, trained men. It was known as the northern division of the 
army that was going against the Ohio Indians; and was under the 
immedi ".e command of Colonel Adam Stephens. He was a native 
of Scotland, was an educated physician, and had settled in the 
Lower Valley of Virginia. Stephens was a noted Indian fighter, 
was with Washington at Great Meadows, and was badly wounded 
at Braddock's defeat; but after his recovery from the wound had 
served throughout the French and Indian War, and commanded 
the Virginia regiment in Pontiac's War. He served with distinc- 
tion in the Revolutionary army, first as a brigadier general and 



and Southwest Virginia 305 

then as major general. After the Revolution he returned to his 
home at Martinsburg, Virginia, now in West Virginia, and for 
some years was an active and distinguished participant in the civil 
affairs of the State. The northern division had along as scouts and 
officers men tliat were then and afterwards noted characters — among 
them being Simon Girty, Simon Kenton, Peter Parchment, John and 
Martin Wetzel, and Daniel Morgan. 

As previously related. Colonel Charles Lewis had marched on the 
6th of September from Camp Union with the Augusta troops and 
Captain Matthew Arbuckle's company from Botetourt, taking along 
four hundred pack-horses loaded with flour, salt and tools; and all 
the beef cattle that had been collected at the camp. Captain 
Arbuckle marched at the head of the column with his company, and 
was the best qualified man then living to act as guide for the advanc- 
ing army. In 1765, with one or two companions, he had explored 
the Kanawha Valley to the Ohio River ; and was the first white man 
to pass along that valley, except a few who were prisoners of the 
Indians. For these reasons he was selected as captain of a company 
of scouts to guide the Lewis division of the army. The orders given 
Colonel Charles Lewis directed him to go to the mouth of Elk Creek, 
to build a small storehouse there, to have sufficient canoes made to 
transport the flour and other supplies down the Kanawha to the 
Ohio River; and to remain in camp at that place until he was joined 
by the other section of the expedition that was to follow. 

On the 10th of September, Colonel John Field left Camp Union 
with his Culpeper men. He was offended because Colonel Andrew 
Lewis would not recognize him as the ranking officer and yield him 
command of the expedition. Field had explored the Lower Kanawha 
Valley the previous year, and had undertaken to make a settlement 
there; but was prevented from doing so by an attack made by a 
party of Indians. He made a narrow escape, but his son, Ephraim, 
and a negro woman, his cook, were made prisoners and taken to 
Ohio by the savages. Field knew the country pretty well, and pur- 
sued a route of his own selection to the mouth of Kanawha, arriving 
there in time to take a part in the battle that was fought at that 
point. 

Colonel Andrew Lewis marched on the 12th of September, from 
Camp Union with the Botetourt troops. Captain Evan Shelby's and 
Captain William Russell's companies from Fincastle, and Captain 
Thomas Buford's company from Bedford; and took with him all the 

T.H.— 20 



306 History of Tazewell County 

beeves and pack-horses that had been collected after Colonel Charles 
Lewis started on his march. On the evening of that day a messenger 
from Colonel Charles Lewis came into the camp and reported that 
one of Colonel I'ield's men. who was out with a limiting party, had 
been shot and killed by an Indian, but that the Indian had been 
killed before he could scalp the white man. It seems that Indian 
scouts and scalping parties hovered about each section of the expedi- 
tion as it marched to the mouth of the Kanawha, and kept their 
people in Ohio thoroughly posted as to the movements of the army. 

On the 23rd of September, Colonel Andrew Lewis, with his 
forces, joined his brother Charles and the Augusta men at their 
camp on the banks of Elk Creek, about one mile above where it 
flows into the Kanawha. This camp was about 108 miles from Camp 
Union, according to a computation made by Colonel Fleming, com- 
mander of the Botetourt troops. Colonel Lewis had been compelled 
to move his troops very slowly, making an average of only about 
ten miles a day after starting from Camp Union. The route he had 
followed was through a pathless wilderness and very rugged; and 
he had to cross Gauley Mountain — a difficult and hazardous under- 
taking, with cattle and pack-horses to handle. The combined forces 
remained at Elk Creek until the 30th, engaged in completing the 
storehouse and making canoes to transport the supjjlies down the 
river. On the 24th Lewis sent out scouts in different directions to 
look for the enemy, and on the 25th, one of the scouts that had 
crossed to the west side of the Kanawha returned, and reported that 
about four miles from camp a small party of Indians had passed the 
scouts in the night with horses, and going down the river. The even- 
ing of the 25th, Colonel Lewis sent scouts to discover the where- 
abouts of Lord Dunmore and to ascertain when he would arrive 
with his troops at the place designated for meeting, the mouth of the 
Little Kanawha. 

Failing to receive any message from Lord Dunmore, Colonel 
Lewis decided to proceed without delay to the mouth of the Great 
Kanawha, and began his march to that point on the 1st of October. 
The troops were formed into two columns for the march, each column 
being divided into two divisions. The Botetourt troops constituted 
the right and the Augusta men the left column. Captain John Lewis, 
a nephew of Colonel Andrew, marched with his company a short 
distance in front of the two columns, acting as the advance guard. 
The cattle and pack-horses were placed between the front and rear 



and Southwest Virginia 307 

divisions; and each flank was covered with a guard of one hundred 
men. This was an admirable formation for protecting the army 
from surprise attacks by the Indians ; and was used each day of the 
march until the exjDcdition arrived at the mouth of the Kanawha, its 
excellence being shown by the fact that not a man or animal was lost 
during the six days occupied in the march from Elk Creek to the 
Ohio. 

This was the first army of a thousand men, composed entirely 
of frontier hunters and skilled woodsmen, that had ever marched 
against the Indians. It was not only unique in its composition, but 
must have presented a rare and imposing spectacle as it marched 
over mountains and through the trackless wilderness. The men were 
not uniformed, but their dress was strikingly similar in character 
and appearance. They wore the frontier fringed hunting shirt — 
dyed various hues, brown, yellow, and red — girdled by a belt around 
the waist; and fashioned by their wives and daughters from jeans 
or heavy flax cloth, which the noble women had manufactured at 
home witli spinning wheel and loom. Their accoutrements were: 
a leather pouch swung on their left side by a shoulder belt, and a 
powder horn, similarly carried on the right side. The leather pouch 
held their bullets and lead, bullet moulds, patching, tow for wiping 
out the rifle barrel, and such small tools as might be needed for 
cleaning and repairing their gims. The powder-horn was made 
from the horn of a cow or ox, scraped so thin and highly polished 
as to make it transparent, and in which the powder was safely dry 
in the very worst weather. All the men had either fur eaps or soft 
hats made from the furs of animals they had killed; and they wore 
moccasins and heavy woolen or buckskin leggings that reached half- 
way up the thigh. Each man was armed with that "terrible gun," 
the mountain flint-lock rifle, and carried in his belt a tomahawk and 
scalping knife. Some of the officers wore swords but each of them 
was equipped with rifle, tomahawk and scalping knife. As they 
marched, scouts were kept far out on the flanks and in front, and 
axemen went in front to blaze the trail and remove fallen trees and 
other obstacles. 

Colonel Lewis and his army reached the junction of the Great 
Kanawha with the Ohio on the 6th day of October, 1774, and went 
into camp on the point that lies in the fork of those two streams. A 
letter from Governor Dunmore to Colonel Lewis was found in a 
hollow tree, having been deposited there by messengers sent by the 



308 



History of Tazewell County 



governor, but who had arrived at the place several days in advance 
of Lewis' army. Dr. Lyman Draper says the messengers were, 
Simon Girty, Simon Kenton, and Peter Parchment. But Samuel 
Murphy, an Englishman who was with Dunmore's division, made 




The above picture is made from a photograph of the heroic bronze 
statue of General Andrew Lewis, that stands at the west side of the 
magnificent Washington Equestrian Statue in the Capitol Square, 
Richmond, Virginia. It correctly shows the pioneer garb and accoutre- 
ments worn by General Lewis and his mountain men at the battle of 
Point Pleasant, 



and Southwest Virginia 309 

the list: Simon Girty^ John Turner, and Joseph and Thomas 
Nicholson. It is certain that Simon Girty, the despised "white rene- 
gade/' was one of the messengers. 

Colonel Lewis sent scouts with a reply to the letter from Dun- 
more that had been found in the hollow tree. The contents of that 
letter were never revealed to the public; but it is believed by many 
that Lewis was ordered to cross the Ohio and join Dunmore, who 
was then endeavoring to make peace with the Indians; and that 
Lewis in his reply letter expressed dissatisfaction for himself and 
unwillingness on the part of his men to comply with the orders of 
the governor. On the 8th, scouts, led by Simon Girty, came down 
the Ohio in a canoe, and brought letters from Lord Dunmore to 
Lewis. The records do not disclose what the orders were, but it 
is generally agreed by historians .that Lewis was directed to take his 
forces across the Ohio and join Lord Dunmore at the Indian towns 
near the Pickaway Plains. Though displeased with the change of 
plans originally adopted, Colonel Lewis made preparations on the 
9th to break camp the following morning, the 10th, and join Dun- 
more, in compliance with the orders given him. 

If such was the purpose of Colonel Lewis, he was destined to be 
foiled in its execution. Cornstalk, the great Shawnee chief, had 
been kept fully informed by spies and runners of the movements of 
the Lewis army from the time it started from Camp Union until its 
arrival at the Ohio River. He had gathered together from eight 
hundred to one thousand of the bravest and most skillful warriors 
of the Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware and Ottowa tribes, and marched 
them rapidly through the forest to the Ohio River, reaching that 
stream at a point some six or eight miles above where Lewis and his 
men were camping. During the night of the 9th he transported 
this large force across the river on rafts, and marched them quietly 
down the stream with the intention of making a surprise attack at 
daybreak upon his white foes, before they had been fully aroused 
from their slumber. Cornstalk's plans were well conceived, and 
would possibly have been successfully carried out but for the inter- 
position of two men from the Clinch Valley, James Mooney and — 
Hickman, who were members of Captain Russell's company. They 
had gotten up before daylight the morning of the 10th, and had 
started up the river on a hunting or scouting expedition. After 
going about a mile from the camp they came suddenly upon Corn- 
stalk's warriors, who were already moving towards the encampment 



310 History of Tazewell County 

of their white foes. The Indians fired at the two men and Hickman 
was killed, the fatal shot being fired by Tavenor Ross, a white rene- 
gade. Mooney ran swiftly back to camp and gave the alarm, report- 
ing that he had seen enough Indians to cover five acres of ground, 
and that his companion, Hickman, had been killed by the red men. 
Thwaites and other historians have stated that the two men who 
discovered Cornstalk's army were members of Captain Shelby's 
company; and Thwaites says that the man who was killed was James 
Hughey. A man with that name does appear upon the roll of Capr 
tain Shelby's company ; but Thwaites is contradicted by Colonel 
William Fleming, who, in his account of the battle, says positively 
that the two men beloned to Captain Russell's company. And Flem- 
ing is supported by Isaac Shelby, son of Captain Evan Shelby, and 
lieutenant of his father's comjDany. In a letter to his uncle, John 
Shelby, written at Point Pleasant, on the 16th of October, 1774, 
Lieutenant Shelby said: "Monday morning about half an hour 
before sunrise two of Capt. Russell's Company Discovered a large 
party of indians about a mile from Camp one of which men was 
killed the Other made his Escape & brought in his intelligence ; in 
two or three minutes after two of Capt. Shelby's Comp^' came in 
and Confirmed the Account." This proves beyond question that the 
first man killed at Point Pleasant was from the Clinch Valley; and 
that a Clinch Valley man was the first to announce the approach of 
Cornstalk and his army of desperate warriors. 






and Southwest Virginia 311 



CHAPTER X. 

THE BATTLE OF POINT PLEASANT KENTUCKY OPENED FOR 

SETTLEMENT. 

Immediately after Mooney gave the alarm, Colonel Andrew 
Lewis called his men to arms. He believed the report as to the 
number of Indians was exaggerated, and that it was only a scouting 
party. So believing, instead of advancing with his entire force, he 
ordered two detachments to be formed, to be made up of select men 
from each company, and each detachment to have one hundred and 
fifty men. As soon as the detachments were formed they went in 
quest of the Indians. Colonel Charles Lewis lead the Augusta 
detachment, and had with him Captains Dickinson, Harrison and 
Skidmore. Colonel William Fleming led the Botetourt and Fin- 
castle men, and had with him Captains Shelby, Russell, Buford, and 
Love. Wlien the advance began, the Augusta line marched on the 
right near the foot of the hills, and the Botetourt and Fincastle line 
marched on the left, moving up the Ohio River, keeping at a dis- 
tance of about two hundred yards from the stream. The advance 
was made briskly, and when about three-fourths of a mile from the 
camp, the sun being one hour high, the detachment led by Colonel 
Charles Lewis came in contact with the enemy. The Indians fired 
a few shots, killing the two white scouts that were in advance of the 
columns. This was quickly followed with heavy firing by the con- 
cealed enemy on the right, which extended instantly to the left ; and 
the two detachments of white men became hotly engaged in deadly 
strife with their hated savage foes. 

The attack made by the Indians was both fast and furious, and 
was met with equal fury by the enraged white men. Hearing the 
heavy clash of resounding firearms. Colonel Andrew Lewis realized 
that he had made a mistake in his estimate of the number of the 
attacking enemy; and he sent Colonel Field hurriedly to the front 
with a reinforcement of two hundred men. Early in the engagement 
Colonel Charles Lewis was mortally wounded, but he remained with 
his men until the line was substantially formed. He had not "taken 
to a tree," that is, used a tree for protection, but was standing on 
a clear piece of ground, cheering his men and urging them to 
advance, and wearing a scarlet waistcoat — a fine tai'get for the 



312 History of Tazewell County 

Indians. Finding that the wound was serious, he handed his gun to a 
man near him, remarked to his men, "I am wounded, but go on and 
be brave," walked unassisted back to the camp, and died in a few 
hours thereafter. 

Soon after Colonel Charles Lewis was forced to retire from the 
field of battle, Colonel Fleming was desjDerately wounded. Two 
balls passed through his left arm, and one entered his breast. After 
encouraging his men with a calm voice to press on to victory, he 
retired to the camp, and was thought to be mortally wounded. At 
this time the Indians on the firing line, which extended for more than 
a mile from the foot hills toward the river, greatly exceeded the 
Virginians in number; and they succeeded in forcing the white men 
on the right of the line to retreat 150 or 250 yards. Colonel Flem- 
ing had rallied and reformed the line just before he was wounded.; 
and then Colonel Field came upon the scene of conflict with rein- 
forcements. As ranking officer, after the retirement from the field 
of Colonels Lewis and Fleming on account of their wounds. Colonel 
Field assumed command of the entire line. He was soon supported 
by additional troops sent forward by Colonel Andrew Lewis. The 
additional reinforcements were lead by Captains McDowell, Mat- 
thews, and Stuart from Augusta; and Captains John Lewis, Pauling, 
Arbuckle, and McClannahan from Botetoui-t. With the lines so 
substantially reinforced, the Virginians moved forward; and not 
only recovered the ground they had lost but began to drive the 
enemy back and up the river. The Indians were forced back until 
they got in line with the Fincastle troops that Colonel Fleming had 
left in action when he was compelled to retire from the battle. 
While the Indians were falling back, Colonel Field was killed. He 
was standing behind a tree, trying to get a shot at an Indian on his 
left who was attracting his attention by laughing and jeering at 
him. While Field's attention was thus diverted, he was shot by two 
Indians who were concealed behind logs on his right. There being 
no other field officer in the engagement, the command of all the lines 
devolved upon Captain Evan Shelby, who was senior captain among 
the surviving commissioned officers. 

From the commencement of the battle, which began about an hour 
after sunrise, until twelve o'clock the conflict was waged with 
unceasing vigor by both the white men and the red men. The hostile 
lines, though more than a mile long, were in such close contact, being 
separated not more than twenty yards, that numerous single com- 



and Southwest Virginia 313 

bats were engaged in by the combatants. In these encounters, either 
the Indian or the white man would single out a foeman worthy of 
his steel, and the two would join in a hand-to-hand struggle; and 
with tomahawk and scalping knife fight until one, or both, of the 
combatants fell. An encounter of this kind took place between Wil- 
liam Bowen and an Indian of powerful statue ; and the stalwart man 
from Tazewell vanquished his savage adversary. 

After twelve o'clock the fighting became less violent; but Isaac 
Shelby declared it "continued sharp enough until one o'clock." The 
Indians about midday tried to slip around the right flank of the 
Virginians and get to the camp. This effort was defeated by the 
whites, who in turn outflanked the enemy, and forced the Indians to 
fall back on their entire line. They used their best men to cover 
their retreat but were so hard pressed that they had to leave a num- 
ber of their dead on the field, something very unusual for the red 
men to do. About one o'clock, while retreating, the Indians reached 
"a most advantageous spot of ground," from which, as was con- 
cluded by Captain Evan Shelby and the other officers, it would be 
very difficult and dangerous to dislodge them. This resulted in the 
lines of both the whites and the Indians remaining, as they were 
then formed, sufficiently near each other to continue the fighting; 
and the firing was kept up, with advantage to the white men, until 
sunset. During the night the Indians made a skillful retirement 
across the Ohio, carrying their woimded with them and throwing 
many of their dead into the river. 

The Virginians, though greatly exhausted, and deeply grieved 
by the losses they had sustained of gallant officers and men, were 
content with the result of the battle. They enjoyed the proud 
satisfaction of knowing that none of their men, save poor Hickman, 
had been scalped by the Indians ; but that the white men had taken 
nearly twenty scalps from their dead foes. 

When a list of the casualties the Virginians had suffered in the 
battle was made, it was found that of the Augusta line Colonel 
Charles Lewis, Colonel John Field, Captain Samuel Wilson, Lieu- 
tenant Hugh Allen, and eighteen privates had been killed ; and that 
Captains John Dickinson and John Skidmore, Lieutenants Samuel 

Vance and Laird, and fifty-one privates of the same line 

had been wounded. It was found that of the Botetourt, Bedford 
and Fincastle men. Captains John Murray, Robert McClannahan, 
James Ward, and Thomas Buford, Lieutenants Matthew Bracken, 



314 History of Tazewell County 

and Edward Goldman, Ensign John Cundiff, and seventeen privates 
were killed ; and Colonel William Fleming, Lieutenant James Robin- 
son and thirty-five privates were wounded. 

At the request of Colonel Andrew Lewis, the casualties of the 
battle, as above enumerated, were forwarded to Colonel William 
Preston by Colonel William Christian, and are, therefore, official. 
From this report it appears that eleven officers and thirty privates 
were killed, a total of forty-six. And that six officers and eighty- 
six privates were wounded, a total of ninety-two. Lieutenant Isaac 
Sh«lby wrote his uncle John that about forty-six were killed and 
about eighty were wounded. Shelby also reported that "five men 
that came in Daddy's Company were Killed." 

There is an existing roll of Captain Shelby's company, but none 
of Captain Russell's. But from a daily report of the forces com- 
manded by Colonel Fleming the day before the battle at Point 
Pleasant, it appears that Shelby had 44 men fit for duty and Russell 
41. The brief accounts of the engagement given by Colonel Christian 
and others do not tell whether any of the men from Clinch Valley 
were killed. These reports do show, however, that Russell's com- 
pany was in the engagement from the time the first volley was fired 
until the fight was ended, and that they were in the thickest of the 
fray. From available records it is shown that six men from the 
territory of the present Tazewell County were in the battle. They 
were the three Bowen brothers, William, Rees and Moses Bowen; 
and David Ward, Robert Cravens, and Lyles Dolsberry. 

After Colonel Andrew Lewis marched from Camp LTnion, the 
troops he left at that place were joined by three more companies 
from Fincastle County. They were commanded, respectively, by 
Captains John Floyd, James Harrod. and William Herbert, which 
made the contingent from the county complete. The Fincastle men 
were so eager to participate in the Ohio campaign, that their com- 
mander, Colonel Christian, determined to break camp at Camp 
Union and follow Lewis down the Kanawha, This course was fol- 
lowed on the 27th of September, and, after an eight days' march. 
Christian with his troops arrived at Elk Creek on the 5tli day of 
October. On tlie 6th day of October, he began his marcli from Elk 
Cre"k to the mouth of the Kanawha; and on the 10th, when about 
twelve or fifteen miles from Point Pleasant, he was met by scouts 
and informed that the army had been attacked that morning by a 
large body of Indians, and that the battle was still raging. There- 



and Southwest Virginia 315 

upon^ Colonel Christian pushed on with his troops and arrived upon 
the scene about midnight. He got there too late for the battle; but 
not too late to assist in giving comfort to the wounded and suffering, 
and fresh hope to the men wlio confidently expected the conflict 
would be renewed the following morning. 

Colonel Fleming, in a journal he kept of special incidents of the 
campaign, thus, in part, describes features of the battle: "The 
enemy wherever they met with an advantageous piece of ground in 
their retreat made a resolute stand, during which some of them were 
employed to move their dead, dying and wounded. In the afternoon 
they had gained such an advantageous post that it was thought 
imprudent to attempt to dislodge them, and firing ceased on both 
sides about half an hour before sunset. From this place the enemy 
made a final retreat and crossed the Ohio with their wounded. Some 
of their dead were slightly covered in the field of battle, some were 
dragged down and thrown into the Ohio, and others they had 
scalped themselves to prevent our people. Whilst this passed in the 
field, Colo. Lewis was fully employed in camp, in sending nocessary 
reinforcements where wanted on the different quarters. The troops 
were encamped on tlie banks of the New River and Ohio, extending 
up both Rivers near a half mile. The point betwixt the rivers was 
full of large trees and very brushy. From the furtherest extent of 
the tents on both rivers, he (Colonel Lewis) cleared a line across, 
and with the brush and trees made a breastwork and lined it with 
the men that were left in camp." 

An Englishman, named Smyth, who falsely claimed to have been 
a participant in the engagement, in writing about the battle, accused 
Colonel Andrew Lewis of cowardice, because he did not adopt the 
tactics of Braddock and Grant, rush to the front and fight the 
Indians in the open; and others, who were jealous of Lewis, were 
disposed to repeat the unjust accusation. The testimony of Colonel 
Fleming, and the jDrevious and subsequent record of Andrew Lewis 
prove that he was one of the bravest of the brave men of his day. 
Roosevelt, in his "Winning Of the West," says: "It was purely a 
soldiers' battle, won by hard individual fighting; there was no dis- 
play of generalship, except on Cornstalk's part." 

With all due respect for Colonel Roosevelt's aptness as a mili- 
tary leader, he is greatly at fault in his estimate of the management 
of the battle by the commander of the army and of the leadership 
of the officers who executed his orders. From the report of Mooney, 



316 History of Tazewell Coun;fcy 

of Russell's company, and that of the two men of Shelby's company, 
Lewis was uncertain as to the number of Indians that were advanc- 
ing for an attack, or what the nature of the attack would be. 
Believing that the attacking force was nothing more than a large 
scouting party sent across the Ohio to hold him on the south side of 
the river while Dunmore's division was engaged on the other side 
of the Ohio, he sent forward two divisions, each having one hundred 
and fifty picked men, to meet the advancing foe and ascertain their 
strength. Then, as a wise precaution, he proceeded to fortify the 
camp, in the manner described by Colonel Fleming; and when he 
found that a really large body of Indians was making the attack, 
he quickly sent ample reinforcements to support the two divisions 
that had been first dispatched to the front. He knew the character 
of the ground he was camping on, with its many advantages for the 
Indians in their well known peculiar methods of fighting; and, so 
knowing, he showed both excellent judgment and the skill of a 
trained frontiersman in the management of the battle. 

That the Indians were confident they would be the victors was 
manifested by their conduct before they made an attack, and during 
the progress of the battle. When they crossed the Ohio they car- 
ried with them their deer skins, blankets and other kinds of goods ; 
and also brought along their boys and squaws. It was intended that 
the boys and squaws should follow the warriors as they drove the 
pale faces back and club the wounded whites to death ; and thus help 
to win the fight quickly. They expected to drive the white men into 
the Ohio and the Kanawha ; and to prevent their escape across these 
rivers had placed lines of their braves on the opposite sides of the 
streams to shoot the whites as they attempted to cross. The courage 
and defiance of the Indians was beyond anything the old Indian 
fighters had ever witnessed. Their chiefs ran continually along the 
lines, exhorting their men to "lie close" and "shoot well," to "fight 
and be. strong," while their men over the Ohio called to them to 
"drive the white dogs in." Cornstalk's splendid voice could be 
heard above the din of the conflict as he urged his comrades on to 
battle. 

The day after the battle was fought, large ranging parties were 
sent out to locate the Indians. Finding that the enemy had retreated 
across the Ohio, the scouting parties returned to the camp. On the 
12th the cattle and horses that had been dispersed and that strayed 
during the fight were collected. Colonel Fleming in his Orderly 
Book says: "This day the Scalps of the Enemy were collected and 



and Southwest Virginia 317 

found to be 17. They were dressed and hung upon a pole near the 
river bank & the plunder was collected & found to be 23 Guns 80 
Blankets 27 Tomahawks with Match coats, Skins, shot pouches, 
powderhorns, war-clubs &c. The Tomahawks Guns & Shot pouches 
were sold & amounted to near 100 pounds." 

On the 13th of October, the scouts or messengers that had been 
sent to notify Lord Dunmore of the battle and victory returned. 
They brought orders for Colonel Lewis to cross the Ohio and to 
march toward the Shawnee towns ; and to j oin his Lordship at a 
certain place, afterwards known to be the Pickaway Plains. The 
14th, 15th, and 16th, the men in camp were kept busily occupied 
finishing a storehouse, and erecting a breastwork, which latter was 
raised two logs high, with part of a bastion. Leaving the sick and 
wounded, with a sufficient force to hold and protect the camp against 
small bands of the enemy. Colonel Lewis crossed the Ohio on the 
17th with about one thousand men, and proceeded on his way to 
join Dunmore and his army. 

The defeat they had encountered so completely broke the spirit 
of the Indians that, as soon as they reached their towns, a council 
of the head-men and chiefs was called and held, to see if a favorable 
treaty could not be made with the Virginians. Cornstalk, who had, 
at the council which met immediately before hostilities commenced, 
earnestly opposed the war, at the present council as vigorously 
opposed making peace with the whites. He was a splendid orator, 
but all his eloquent appeals to his fellow-chiefs were made in vain. 
He urged them, if necessary, to kill all their women and children, 
and that they sacrifice their own lives, fighting till the last man fell, 
rather than yield to the Long Knives. Failing to win their consent 
for a continuation of the war, disgusted with their cowardice, he 
struck his tomahawk into the war post, and declared that he would 
go to Dunmore and make peace for the cravens. To this proposition, 
prompt and unanimous approval was given; and Cornstalk with his 
fellow-chiefs repaired to Dunmore's camp. 

Soon after the chiefs reached Lord Dunmore's camp, he sent 
a messenger to inform Colonel Lewis that he was engaged in a peace 
parley with the Indians, and ordered him to halt with his forces and 
to go into camp. Dunmore feared that, if the Virginians came to 
his, camp while the Indians were there. Colonel Lewis would not be 
able to control his men, who were enraged at the loss of such a 
lajge, number of their esteemed officers and comrades in the recent 



318 History of Tazewell Couny 

battle ; and that they would murder the chiefs while they were 
engaged in the peace conference. His Lordship, however, invited 
Colonel Lewis, and such of his officers as he chose to select, to visit 
the camp and take part in the peace negotiations. 

The invitation was declined in such terms as to convince Dun- 
more that Colonel Lewis, and his officers, and the men in the ranks, 
had not made the long and severe march from their distant homes 
to the mouth of the Kanawha, and fought the bloody battle at 
Point Pleasant to accomplish nothing more than an uncertain peace 
with the savages, a peace which Dunmore had been seeking from the 
moment he left Pittsburg. The mountaineers from Fincastle County 
wanted to go on to the Shawnee towns and do what Colonel Preston 
had promised them should be done, that is, plunder and burn the 
Shawnee towns, destroy their corn fields, take their "great stock of 
horses," and force the people to abandon their country, or kill them. 
And the men from the Holston and Clinch valleys were eager to 
march on and avenge the cruel outrages that had been committed, 
since they left their homes, upon their neighbors and kindred by 
Shawnee and Mingo scalping parties. 

The governor then concluded a treaty of peace with the Indians. 
Being disturbed over the attitude of Lewis and his men, his Lord- 
ship laid aside his dignity, mounted his horse and rode to Lewis' 
camp. He informed Lewis that a treaty had been agreed upon, and 
that its terms were such as would protect the inhabitants of the 
regions west of the Alleghanies. Then he told Lewis that the pres- 
ence of himself and army could be of no further service, but might 
be a hinderance to the conclusion of the treaty; and ordered him to 
march home with his forces. It is said that Colonel Lewis was 
greatly concerned for the safety of Governor Dunmore while he 
was visiting his camp. The soldiers were so angry on account of 
being ordered to return home just as they liad gotten where they 
could strike and punish their foes, that Lewis thought it best to 
double or treble the guards about his tent while the governor was 
visiting him. Dunmore and his party remained in the camp that 
night. The next day he called the captains together, told them 
what he had done, and requested them to return home with their 
men ; and that day the return march was begim. 

The terms of the treaty, as briefly reported by Governor Dunmore 
to the secretary of state for the colonies, were: "That the Indians 
should deliver up all prisoners without reserve ; that they should not 



and Southwest Virginia 319 

hunt on our Side the Ohio^ nor molest any Boats passing thereupon; 
That they should promise to agree to such regulations for their trade 
with our People^ as should be hereafter dictated by the Kings In- 
structions, and that they Should deliver into our hands certain Hos- 
tages, to be Kept by us until we were convinced of their Sincere in- 
tention to adhere to all these Articles. The Indians finding, contrary 
to their expectation, no punishment likely to follow, agreed to every 
thing with the greatest alacrity, and gave the most Solemn assur- 
ances of their quiet and peaceable deportment for the future: and 
in return I have given them every promise of protection and good 
treatment on our side." 

Apparently the provisions of the treaty were reasonable and 
j ust for both the Virginians and the Indians ; but, for some unknown 
reason, the Mingos refused to accept its terms. It may be that they 
were influenced to take this course by Logan, their famous chief, 
who was not present at the preliminary conference that negotiated 
the treaty. He had just gotten back to the Mingo towns from his 
bloody scalping expedition to the Holston and Clinch valleys ; and 
had brought with him the little Roberts boy, captured on Reedy 
Creek when the Roberts family was massacred, and also the two 
. negroes he had captured at Moore's Fort. From contemporary 
reports, it is known that he also had a large number of scalps, pos- 
sibly as many as thirty, dangling at his belt when he returned from 
this expedition. It is probable the scalps of Mrs. Henry and her 
children, who were murdered in Thompson Valley, were part of 
Logan's trophies. 

Provoked by the refusal of the Mingos to accept the treaty, 
Lord Dunmore sent Major William Crawford with a force of two 
hundred and fifty men to the nearest Mingo town to inflict such 
punishment upon the recalcitrants as would bring them into submis- 
sion. A night attack was made upon the town and five of the 
Indians were killed; and fourteen, chiefly women and children, were 
taken prisoners, the balance of the inhabitants escaping under cover 
of the night. The town was destroyed with the torch ; and a con- 
siderable amount of booty was brought away, which was sold for 
three hundred and five pounds and fifteen shillings, and divided 
among Crawford's men. George Rodgers Clark, who a few years 
later was the leader of the famous expedition that made conquest of 
the Illinois country, was with Crawford when the disgraceful attack 
was made upon the Mingo town. 



320 History of Tazewell County 

Logan had proudly and defiantly refused to attend any of the 
peace conferences, or give his assent to the terms of the treaty. 
Finally he ceased to oppose peace, but declined to avow whether or 
not he would continue his acts of hostility against the whites. Dun- 
more made several futile efforts to get an interview with the proud 
Indian chief; and at last decided to reach him and find out his 
intentions through a special messenger. He selected for the mission 
his interpreter, John Gibson, who was the reputed husband of 
Logan's sister that had been brutally murdered by Greathouse and 
Baker at the Yellow Creek massacre. Gibson went to the Indian 
town and Logan agreed to talk privately with his brother-in-law, 
and took him aside for an interview. The outraged chief, with 
fervid eloquence, delivered a message for the governor that has since 
been pronounced one of the most classic and dramatic orations that 
can be found in the literature of any country. Gibson, who was an 
educated man, wrote it down while Logan was engaged in its 
delivery, and it is as follows: 

"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's 
cabin hungry and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and 
naked and he clothed him not.^ During the course of the last long 
and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his camp, an advocate for 
peace. Such was my love for the whites that my countrymen pointed 
as I passed and said, 'Logan is the friend of the white man.' I had 
even thought to have lived with you but for the injuries of one 
man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood and unpro- 
voked, murdered all the relations of Logan. There runs not a drop 
of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me 
for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully 
glutted my vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the beams of 
peace; but do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. 
Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his 
life. Who is there to mourn for Logan.'* Not one." 

When Gibson returned to the camp with the message, Lord Dun- 
more assembled his spldiers and scouts, among the latter were 
Michael Cresap and George Rodgers Clark, and read the speech to 
them. Its beauty and patlios so impressed the rugged frontiersmen 
that they constantly strived to remember and repeat it. Cresap, 
whom Logan still believed was the murderer of his sister and 
brother, though he was guiltless, was so mortified and enraged by 



I 

i 



and Southwest Virginia 321 

its recital that he threatened to tomahawk Greathouse, who was 
the real perpetrator of the hideous crime. 

In after years the genuiness of the speech was assailed, some 
writers asserting that it was the production of John Gibson or some 
other white man. Thomas Jefferson investigated, with his usual 
care, the authorship, and, in his Notes on Virginia, not only attrib- 
utes it to Logan, but commends the beautiful eloquence of the 
Indian chief. Theodore Roosevelt, also a careful investigator, in his 
Winning of the West, declares it was spoken by Logan. The style 
is entirely distinct from that used by the white men of that period, 
and neither Dunmore, nor any white man who was with him, had 
the peculiar talent for composing such a production. In thought 
and expression it bears the unmistakable impress of the child of 
nature. 

The Mingo chief, whose life was a tragedy, was the most pathetic 
figure among the American Indians that were known to the early 
white settlers. His father was a French child that was captured 
by the Indians and adopted into the Oneida tribe; and who, when 
he grew to manhood, was made a chief by the Indians that lived in 
the Susquehanna Valley. Logan's mother belonged to the Mingo or 
Cayuga tribe, which was a branch of the Iroquois Nation. His 
Indian name was Tah-gah-j ute, and he took the name Logan from 
his friend James Logan, who was secretary for Pennsylvania, and 
for a long time acted as governor of that province. Logan lived in 
Pennsylvania until 1770, when he moved to Ohio. At the time of 
Dunmore's War he was living at old Chillicothe, now Westfall, on 
the west bank of the Sciota River. He had always been the faithful 
friend of the white people, but the murder of his kindred made him 
an everlasting foe of the white race. His last home was at Detroit, 
where he was killed in a drunken brawl in 1780. Quoting from a 
historian of the period, Howe says: "For magnanimity in war, and 
greatness of soul in peace, few, if any, in any nation ever surpassed 
Logan. His form was striking and manly, his countenance calm 
and noble, and he spoke the English language with fluency and coi^ 
rectness." 



Dunmore's War and the battle of Point Pleasant were of such 
moment to the pioneer settlers of the Clinch Valley, I have felt con- 
strained to write freely about the most important incidents con- 



T.H.— 21 



322 History of Tazewell County 

nected therewith. The treaty of peace made by Dunraore with the 
Ohio Indians^ after they had been vanquished by the Virginia moun- 
taineers, gave assurance to the inhabitants of the Clinch Valley that 
the red men would not, for a time, molest them in their earnest 
endeavor to clear away the forests and establish comfortable homes 
for themselves and their descendants. The Shawnees had pledged 
themselves to make no more invasions of the territory south of the 
Ohio for either war or hunting purposes. This j^ledge was not 
violated until after the Revolution began, when brutal British agents 
persuaded the Indians to resume hostilities and murder the border 
settlers. 

Colonel Lewis, after parting with Lord Dunmore, marched 
rapidly and directly back to Point Pleasant, arriving there with his 
forces on the night of the 20th of October. The following day a 
large detail of men was made for the purpose of completing the 
fortifications that Lewis had commenced the day the battle was 
fought. The fort when completed was named Fort Blair; and it 
was a small rectangle, about eighty yards long, with block-houses 
at two of its corners. During the absence of the army across the 
Ohio, a number of wounded had died from their injuries. Colonel 
Christian in a letter to Colonel Preston repoi'ted: "Many of our 
wounded men died since the accounts of the battle came in. I think 
there are near 70 dead. Capt. Bufoi-d and Lieut. Goldman and 7 
or 8 more died whilst we were over the Ohio and more will yet die." 
Colonel Christian also said: "Colo. Fleming is in a fair way to 
recover and I think out of danger if he don't catch cold." 

Colonel Fleming, who was an accomplished surgeon for that day, 
had been very severely and supposedly fatally wounded. Two balls 
struck his left arm below the elbow and broke both bones, and a 
third entered his breast three inches below the left nipple and 
lodged in the chest. In a letter to a friend he said: "When I came 
to be drest, I found my lungs forced through the wound in my 
breast, as long as one of my fingers. Watkins tried to reduce them 
ineffectually. He got some part returned but not the whole. Being 
in considerable pain, some time afterwards, I got the whole returned 
by the assistance of one of my attendants. Since which I thank the 
Almighty I have been in a surprising state of ease. Nor did I ever 
know such dangerous wounds attended with so little inconvenience." 
Colonel Fleming did recover from tlie wounds, but was disabled for 
active service in "-he Revolutionary War. He afterwards served 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 323 

Virginia in many responsible civil positions, and his death, which 
occurred Aug. 24th, 1795, was occasioned by the wounds he received 
at Point Pleasant. The sword he wore in the battle is now a cher- 
ished heirloom in the possession of Judge S. M. B. Coulling, of 
Tazewell, Virginia. Judge Coulling is a great-great-grandson of 
the valiant soldier and distinguished surgeon. 

Soon after the return of the army to Point Pleasant, the troops 
began to make the homeward journey in small companies. They 
were eager to get back home, and took the most direct routes to their 
respective places of residence. The men from the Clinch and Hol- 
ston did not return by the route they used when they marched to 
Camp Union and thence to the mouth of the Kanawha. They 
crossed to the west side of the Kanawha at Point Pleasant and took 
the most direct course they could find for their homes. The Taze- 
well men, so far as is known, all got back about the first of Novem- 
ber, safe and sound, except John Hickman, who was the first white 
man killed at Point Pleasant, and Moses Bowen who died on the 
march home from smallpox. Captain William Russell was left in 
command of Fort Blair, with a garrison of fifty men who were to 
remain until a regular garrison could be provided by the General 
Assembly. It is hardly probable that any of the Tazewell men 
remained with Russell, as they were still anxious for the safety of 
their families. 

The treaty with the Indians being satisfactorily concluded, and 
Lewis' men having gone home, Lord Dunmore started on his return 
journey to Williamsburg. He arrived there on the 4th of December, 
was received with much acclaim by the people, and was presented 
with congratulatory addresses by the city, the College of William 
and Mary and the Governor's Council. About the time of his arrival, 
or shortly thereafter, Dunmore received five dispatches, numbered 
9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, from the Earl of Dartmouth, then secretary of 
state for the colonies; and dispatch Number 13 gave the governor 
very great concern. In this dispatch Dartmouth rebuked Dunmore 
severely for permitting grants to be issued for lands west of the 
Alleghany and allowing settlements to be made thereon, which was 
done in violation of the royal proclamation of 1763, that forbade 
British citizens settling west of the Alleghany Mountains. 

The announced purpose of the proclamation of 1763, was to pre- 
vent continued trouble with the Indian tribes who were the allies of 
the French in the war that had just been terminated. A few years 



324 History of Tazewell County 

after the royal proclamation was promulgated, the companies that 
had obtained from the Virginia Government grants for hundreds of 
thousands of acres west of the Alleghany Mountains, and who had 
surveyed numerous tracts of land and sold them to prospective set- 
tlers, went industriously to work to avoid the terms of the proclama- 
tion, by securing an extinguishment of the claims of the various 
tribes to the lands in the disputed teri*itoi-y. This induced many 
persons to cross to the territory west of New River and settle on 
lands purchased from Colonel Patton's representatives, or from the 
Loyal Company; and others settled on unappropriated boundaries, 
expecting to perfect their titles under what was called the settlers 
right or "corn laws." About all the pioneer settlers in the Clinch 
Valley had come here and located on waste or unappropriated land. 

Over in England the mythical belief that the shores of the Pacific 
Ocean were not far beyond the Alleghany ranges had been dis- 
sipated ; and through the explorations of Christopher Gist and others 
it was known that the territory embraced in the charters of Virginia, 
lying beyond the mountains, was of vast extent and wonderfully 
valuable for agricultural purposes. This information attracted the 
attention and aroused the cupidity of certain Englishmen. They 
devised a plan for getting possession of the extensive region belong- 
ing to Virginia west of the mountains, and enriching themselves 
by selling it in parcels to settlers. 

In June, 1769, about the time the settlers began to come to the 
Clinch Valley and to other localities west of New River, a company 
of Englishmen and Americans presented a petition to the King of 
England, asking that they be permitted to purchase and colonize the 
large boundary in America that had been ceded by the Iroquois 
Nation to Great Britain by the Fort Stanwix treaty, negotiated in 
1768. The company was composed of men of influence, headed by 
Thomas Walpole; but the scheme was so vigorously opposed that 
the prayer of the petition was not acted upon until October, 28th. 

1773, when the Privy Council ordered that the grant be issued to the 
petitioners. A new province was to be established to be called 
Vandalia, and the seat of government was to be located at the mouth 
of the Great Kanawha, on and about the ground where the battle of 
Point Pleasant was fought. 

But for the disturbances that arose in the American colonies in 

1774, and that culminated in the Revoluntionary War, the specula- 
tive scheme of Walpole and his associates would have taken legal 



and Southwest Virginia 325 

shape. This would have invested Walpole's company with title to 
all the unoccupied land belonging to Virginia west of the Alle- 
ghanies, including tlie Clinch Valley. And it is more than probable 
that all the pioneer settlers of the Upper Clinch Valley would have 
been turned out of their homes^ or forced to pay Walpole's company 
for them, as none of the first settlers had secured regular titles for 
their lands, and did not perfect them until after the Revolution. It 
would also have taken authority from the Virginia Council to issue 
grants for lands west of the mountains ; and put an end to the 
policy of the General Assembly for pushing the frontiers westward 
by the creation of new counties, as was done by the erection of 
Botetourt and Fincastle counties. 

That Governor Dunmore was secretly favoring the plans of Wal- 
pole is shown from his letter to the Earl of Dartmouth, replying to 
the aforementioned Dispatch "No. 13." It is possible that this was 
the true reason for the indifi'erent treatment he extended the Virginia 
mountaineers whom he had requested to join him in the Ohio cam- 
paign. On the 12th of July, 1774, Dunmore wrote a letter to 
Colonel Andrew Lewis, directing him to go to Ohio with a force of 
men, to destroy the Indian towns and to show the savages no mercy. 
The governor said: "All I can now say is to repeat what I have 
before said which is to advise you by no means to wait any longer 
for them to Attack you, but to raise all the Men you think willing 
& Able & go down immediately to the mouth of the Kanhaway & 
there build a Fort, and if you think you have forse enough (that 
are willing to follow you) to proceed directly to their Towns & if 
possible destroy their Towns & Magazines and distress them in 
every way that is possible." 

In the face of these specific orders to his subordinates, the gover- 
nor, immediately after his arrival at Pittsburg, began to take steps 
to negotiate a peace with all the Ohio tribes, including the Shawnees, 
without giving Lewis and his brave men opportunity to accomplish 
the ends for which they had made their laborious and perilous mar(;h 
to the Ohio. Dunmore's conduct in connection with the campaign 
was so insincere and vacillating thnl Lewis and his men strongly 
suspected him of treachery. Howe, in his History of Virginia, says: 
"Lord Dunmore marched the army in two divisions: the one under 
Col. Andrew Lewis he sent to the junction of the Great Kanawha 
with the Ohio, while he himself marched to a higher point on the 
latter river, with pretended purpose of destroying the Indian towns 



326 History of Tazewell County 

and joining Lewis at Point Pleasant; but it is believed with the 
real object of sending the whole Indian force to annihilate Lewis' 
detachment, and thereby weaken the power and break down the 
spirit of Virginia." Howe is strongly sustained in his charge of 
treachery against Dunmore by Colonel John Stuart, who commanded 
a company of the Augusta men at Point Pleasant, and who wrote a 
narrative of the battle. Alexander Withers, in his Chronicles of 
Border Warafare, corroborates Colonel Stuart's accusations. Colonel 
Stuart was a fellow-countryman of Dunmore, being a native of 
Scotland, and this adds greater force to his charges of infidelity 
against the earl. 

In his letter to the secretary of state for the colonies, Dunmore 
made a very earnest effort to convince Dartmouth that he was not 
only opposed to extending the settlements beyond the limits of the 
colonies as they stood in 1770, but that he had done everything pos- 
sible while governor of New York to prevent any such extension. 
He also protested that he made ineffectual but earnest efforts to 
prevent further settlements in the terriory west of New River that 
the Cherokees ceded to Virginia by the treaty concluded at Lochaber 
on the 18th of October, 1770. He was certainly not in sympathy 
with the men who composed Lewis' army, many of whom had already 
settled in the forbidden territory ; and some of whom, Floyd, Har- 
rod, and others, had been preparing to settle in Kentucky. Dunmore 
showed his contempt for the pioneers by saying: "They acquire no 
attachment to Place : But wandering about Seems engrafted in their 
nature; and it is a weakness incident to it, that they Should forever 
immagine the Lands further off, are Still better than those upon 
which they are already Settled." 

The Tazewell pioneers were not composed of restless rovers, 
such as Lord Dunmore describes. They, or their ancestors, had left 
the old countries to secure that freedom of thought and action which 
later became the inalienable right of every American citizen. The 
lands they found here and settled on were so rich and attractive that 
they knew it was useless to seek anything better "further off." So, 
they remained, and imparted to their descendants a love for Taze- 
well soil that has almost become an obsession. In his report to Lord 
Dartmouth, in explanation of the existing conditions on the Virginia 
frontiers. Lord Dunmore said: 

"In this Colony Proclamations have been published from time to 
time to restrain them (the frontier settlers) : But impressed from 



and Southwest Virginia 327 

their earliest infancy with Sentiments and habits, very different 
from those acquired by persons of a Similar condition in England, 
they do not conceive that Government has any right to forbid their 
taking possession of a Vast tract of Country, either inhabitated, or 
which Serves only as a Shelter to a few Scattered Tribes of Indians. 
Nor can they be easily brought to entertain any belief of the per- 
manent obligation of Treaties made with those people, whom they 
consider, as but little removed from the brute Creation." 

These utterances of Governor Dunmore very accurately set forth 
the motives and characteristics of the Tazewell pioneers ; but they 
were not a proper subject for unfavorable comment by an official 
representative of the government of Great Britain. The British 
Government, from the time the first settlement was made at James- 
town, had established and followed a policy of aggression and exter- 
mination toward the American aborigines. England's title to the 
immense region now embraced in the United States was based upon 
the chimerical right of discovery and the brutal principle that might 
makes right. If treaties were made with the Indians by the British 
Government, in each and every instance the natives were deceived 
and defrauded. Such treaties were not made from a sense of moral 
or legal obligation to the aboriginal inhabitants, but from a selfish 
desire to make the colonies stronger and prepare them for further 
encroachments upon the natural rights of the red men. If our ances- 
tors believed that the English King had no right to forbid them 
taking possession of the Clinch Valley and adjacent territory for 
their homes, that the treaties made with the Indians were devoid of 
"permament obligation," and that the natives were no better than 
"the brute creation," these convictions had been imbibed from the 
teachings and practices of the British Government toward both the 
Indians of America and the inhabitants of the East Indies. We 
should feel proud of the fact that our pioneer ancestors rested their 
right to make their homes in the wilderness regions of the Clinch 
upon the theory that the lands were uninhabited, that they were of 
"no man's land;" and that they did not look for title to a government 
that claimed the country by right of conquest or discovery. 

Dunmore wrote to Lord Dartmouth that there were "three con- 
siderations" he wished to offer for his Majesty's approval: "The 
first is, to Suffer these Emigrants to hold their Lands of, and incor- 
porate with the Indians; the dreadfull Consequences of which may 



328 History of Tazewell County 

be easily foreseen, and wliich I leave to your Lordships Judgment. 
The Second, is to permit them to form a Set of Democratical Gov- 
ernments of their own, ujDon the backs of the old Colonies ; a Scheme 
which, for obvious reasons, I apprehend cannot be allowed to be 
carried into execution. The last is, that which I proposed to your 
Lordship, to receive persons in their Circumstances, under the pro- 
tection of Some of His Majesty's Governments already established, 
and, in giving this advice, I had no thought of bringing a Dishonour 
upon the Crown." 

These suggestions offered by the governor of the Virginia prov- 
ince, through the secretary of state for the colonies, to George III., 
King of England, make it obvious that Dunraore's War was waged 
more particularly for the benefit of the Royal Government than it 
was for the protection of the frontier settlers. Dunmore was aware 
that the pi-inciples of democracy were taking deep root in the minds 
and hearts of the inhabitants of the mountain regions of Virginia ; 
and that open resistance to their eager wishes to extend their set- 
tlements into Kentucky and along the southern banks of the Ohio 
would intensify rather than curb the growing democratic spirit of 
this liberty-loving people. And he realized that the methods he had 
used to thwart the main purpose of the Lewis expedition to the 
Ohio had kindled a flame of resentment among the inhabitants of the 
three great trans-montane counties, Augusta, Botetourt, and Fin- 
castle. Hence his wise suggestion to the British Government for the 
adoption of a conservative and compromising policy in its treatment 
of the frontiersmen, who had shown at Point Pleasant their ability 
to defeat the confederated tribes of the Northwestern Indians with- 
out any assistance from the Royal Government. The battle of Point 
Pleasant, which was won by the Virginia backwoodsmen, a number 
of Tazewell pioneers being in the engagement, was virtually the 
opening battle of the American Revolution. 

One of the most important outcomes of the Point Pleasant bat- 
tle, and one that proved of vital benefit to the inhabitants of the 
Clinch Valley, was the opening up of Kentucky for permanent set- 
tlement. This erected a strong bari'ier in that direction between the 
liostile Indians and the Clinch settlements; and during the progress 
of the Revolutionary War greatly reduced the number of attacks 
that would otherwise have been made upon the pioneers of this 
region. 

The battle of Point Pleasant was also an event of immense 



and Southwest Virginia 329 

interest to the American colonies. It not only furnished opportunity 
for the permanent settlement of Kentucky and the Kanawha Valley, 
but gave George Rodgers Clark and his intrepid followers inspira- 
tion to originate and consummate the expedition that won for Vir- 
ginia the extensive and valuable Northwestern territory; and 
extended the northern boundary line of the American Nation from 
Nova Scotia along the chain of inland seas, and on to the Pacific 
Ocean. Eventually it gave the United States possession of the 
lower Mississippi Valley, through Thomas Jefferson's purchase of 
Louisiana in 1803; brought Texas, the splendid Lone Star State, 
into the Union; and secured, by conquest, the large territory ceded 
by Mexico in 1848. The descendants of the Tazewell pioneers can 
proudly claim that their ancestors were among the participants in 
the eventful battle. There were other results that flowed from the 
battle that are not so pleasant to contemplate. It sowed the seeds 
of life and greed in the broad road the white men afterwards 
traveled, but scattered the seeds of death and despair along the nar- 
row path the poor American Indians were forced to travel for more 
than a century. 



Soon after the conclusion of Dunmore's War, Daniel Boone, who 
had been sojourning in the Clinch Valley for more than a year, 
determined to carry into effect his long coveted plans for planting 
a colony in Kentucky. The Fort Stanwix treaty had extinguished 
the ancient claim of the Iroquois to the territory in question ; and the 
treaty that Dunmore made with the Ohio Indians had procured from 
them an abandonment of the right they asserted to the hunting 
grounds south of the Ohio. The Cherokees, however, claimed, and 
justly so, absolute title to Kentucky by the terms of the treaty made 
at Lochaber, South Carolina ; and under a treaty made with the prov- 
ince of Virginia in 1772, which latter treaty provided that the 
boundary line between Virginia and the Cherokee Nation should 
"run west from the White Top Mountain in latitude thirty-six 
degrees thirty minutes." 

Boone saw the necessity for getting rid of the claim of the 
Cherokees before making a further attempt to lead a colony into 
Kentucky. He remembered how his first attempt to migrate to that 
country, in the autumn of 1773, had been defeated by a roving band 
of Cherokees, who set upon and killed his son James, and Henry 



330 History of Tazewell County 

Russell, son of Captain William Russell, together with four white 
men and two negroes who were attending young Russell. This 
caused him to exercise caution to escape a similar occurrence. John 
Floyd had made, in the spring and summer of 1774, numerous sur- 
veys of large and valuable tracts of land in Kentucky for Patrick 
Henry, William Preston, William Russell, William Byrd, William 
Fleming, William Christian, Arthur Campbell, and other Virginians ; 
and all these, no doubt, joined Boone in the scheme to acquire the 
title of the Cherokees. Boone decided to enter into negotiations 
with the Indians. Early in the year 1775 he induced Colonel Rich- 
ard Henderson, Thomas Hart, John Williams, James Hogg, Nathan- 
iel Hart, Leonard H. Bullock, John Lutrell, and William John- 
ston, all living in North Carolina, to join him in an effort to pur- 
chase the Cherokee claim. A company was formed to that end, and 
Boone, Henderson and Nathaniel Hart went to the Cherokee towns 
to commence negotiations. They made a proposition to the Indians, 
and suggested that a general council of the Nation be held to con- 
sider the sale of the desired territory to Boone and his associates. 
A council was held at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River, at 
which about twelve hundred Cherokees were present, more than half 
of them warriors. On the 17th of March, 1775, a treaty was con- 
cluded and signed by the agents of the company and certain chiefs 
of the Cherokee Nation. In consideration of a large quantity of 
merchandise, said to be of the value of ten thousand pounds sterling, 
the Indians convej^ed to the North Carolinians and their associates 
all the lands south of the Ohio and lying between the Kentucky and 
Cumberland Rivers. Dragging Canoe, the great chief, opposed the 
treaty and made a strong speech against it. He very earnestly and 
pathetically called the attention of his tribesmen to the happy state 
the Nation had occupied before it was encroached upon by the 
greedy white men, and how other tribes of their race had been 
driven from their homes by the whites, who seemed determined to 
drive the natives out or exterminate them. He declared that: 
"Whole nations had melted away in their presence like balls of 
snow before the sun, and had scarcely left their names behind, 
except as imperfectly recorded by their enemies and destroyers." 
Dragging Canoe saw in this proposition of Boone and his com- 
panions to get the remainder of their finest hunting grounds the 
beginning of a movement of the white men to drive his people from 
their beautiful homeland in the Southern Alleghanies, and force 



and Southwest Virginia 331 

them into the wilderness beyond the Mississippi. The old chief 
urged his countrymen to fight to the death rather than submit to the 
loss of more of their territory. His pleas were unavailing, and the 
territory sought by Daniel Boone and others was sold to them. 

The Cherokees had parted with their acknowledged title to their 
famous hunting grounds, from which they had in succession driven 
all intruders, "time out of mind." But instead of the lands becom- 
ing the property of Henderson's company, it merely removed the 
Cherokee cloud from the title which Virginia had acquired and was 
asserting under the charters granted by James I., King of Eng- 
land; and Kentucky at that time was a part of Fincastle County, 
Virginia. The Indian chiefs conceded that their title was of doubt- 
ful value, because they had never used the territory for residence, 
but only for hunting purposes. Oconostoto and Dragging Canoe 
told Henderson that the Northwestern Indians would oppose his 
occupancy of the territory and would show the white men no mercy. 
And another old chief told Daniel Boone: "Brother we have given 
you a fine land, but I believe you will have much trouble in set- 
tling it." 

Regardless of these warnings, as soon as he was satisfied that 
the Cherokees would make the sale, Henderson started Boone with a 
company of thirty men to blaze and clear a trail from the Holston 
to the Kentucky River. Equipping his men with rifles and axes, 
Boone immediately started out to prepare the trail, which passed 
through Cumberland Gap, crossed the Cumberland, Laurel and Rock 
Castle rivers, and on to the Kentucky River. Boone's party was 
occupied two weeks in accomplishing its task, and on several 
occasions they were attacked by small parties of Indians and some 
of his men killed. 

When the treaty with the Indians was completed, Henderson 
started out to follow the trail that Boone and his men had made. 
He had a large party of men; and wagons to transport the goods, 
tools implements and so forth, that would be needed in preparing a 
permanent settlement. But he had to abandon the wagons in 
Powell's Vallej', because the trail beyond would not permit the use 
of vehicles; and pack-horses were used for the balance of the jour- 
ney. On the 7th of April messengers from Boone met Henderson's 
party with the information that the Indians were proving danger- 
ous, and urging Henderson to hasten on to where Boone and his men 
had gone into camp. Henderson as quickly as possible joined 



332 History of Tazewell County 

Boone, reaching his uncompleted wooden fort on the 20th of April, 
where he was received with a salute from 20 or 30 rifles; and they 
proceeded to lay the foundation of the settlement at Boonesborough. 
Roosevelt says, in Winning of the West: "Beyond doubt the rest- 
less and vigorous frontiersmen would ultimately have won their 
way into the coveted western lands; yet had it not been for the 
battle of the Great Kanawha, Boone and Henderson could not, in 
1775, have planted their colony in Kentucky; and had it not been 
for Boone and Henderson, it is most unlikely that the land would 
have been settled at all until after the Revolutionary War." 

The purchase from the Indians by Henderson and his associates 
was made for the purpose of establishing a neW province, or colony, 
to be separated from the colonies of Virginia and North Carolina, 
and they named it Transylvania. Nearly all of the present 
Kentucky and a considerable part of Tennessee, then North Caro- 
lina, was embraced in the purchase. About the same time that 
Henderson and Boone took their colony to their new possession, 
Colonel James Harrod returned to Kentucky with a large party of 
emigrants, and resumed work on the fort and village he had com- 
menced to build in 1774 on the present site of Harrodsburg. And 
Benjamin Logan, who was a lieutenant in one of the companies from 
the Holston in the Point Pleasant campaign, went out with a party 
and built Logan's Station, ten miles from Boonesborough. It is 
higlily probable that Colonel William Preston, Major Arthur Camp- 
bell, and other prominent Virginians were identified in some way 
with Henderson's Transylvania Company, as John Floyd returned 
to Kentucky in 1775 to act as surveyor for that company. The 
scheme may have originated, in a measure, from resentment toward 
Governor Dunmore on account of his unfair treatment of the Fin- 
castle men who took part in the Ohio campaign ; and with tlie inten- 
tion of forestalling Thomas Walpole and his speculative company 
of Englishmen, who were perfecting their plans to found the pro- 
vince of Vandalia. 

After his arrival on the scene, Henderson lost no time in putting 
his plans into effective operation. He opened a land office at 
Boonesborough, and had boundaries that aggregated many thousands 
of acres surveyed by Daniel Boone and others; giving certificates 
of entry therefor to any colonists who wished to become purchasers. 
A number of the colonists were apprehensive of the legality of 
Henderson's right to sell and convey these lands. They decided 



and Southwest Virginia 333 

to rest their right of entry upon the Virginia land laws. The Taze- 
well pioneers had made their settlements under these laws, as is 
shown by the patents issued to them after the Revolution. These 
laws gave to every man who settled in the wilderness regions the 
right to enter four hundred acres of unappropriated land, if he 
built a cabin thereon and cleared and cultivated in com a small 
boundary. The General Assembly of Virginia afterwards confirmed 
the claims of the Kentucky colonists who relied upon the Virginia 
laws for their titles. 

Henderson and his Transylvanians asked the consent of the Con- 
tinental Congress, then in session, to send representatives to that 
body, independent of Virginia and North Carolina. Lord Dunmore 
as governor of Virginia, made protest against all the acts of the 
proprietors of Translyvania as illegitimate, and claimed that the 
greater portion of the mushroom province was Virginia territory and 
was a part of Fincastle County. Thomas Jefferson and Patrick 
Henry, who were delegates from Virginia to the Continental Con- 
gress, made vigorous protest against recognition of Transylvania, 
and the Congress refused to admit its representatives to seats in that 
assembly. The North Carolina Government adopted the same policy 
as that of Virginia. While the Revolutionary War was in progress, 
in 1778, the General Assembly of Virginia declared Henderson's 
purchase from the Indians null and void, using as authority for the 
act a general land law passed in 1705 by the General Assembly. 
One of the provisions of the act forbade the Indians from alienating 
their lands, "by whatsoever rights claimed or pretended to, to any 
.but some of their own nation;" and declared all conveyances contrary 
to the act void; and imposed heavy penalties on those who should 
purchase or procure conveyances from them. However, instead of 
inflicting penalties upon Henderson and his associates, the General 
Assembly thought it equitable, and sound public policy, to reimburse 
them for procuring from the Cherokees a relinquishment of their 
actual or pretended claims to the Virginia territory situated in Ken- 
tucky. In accordance with that view, the General Assembly in 
October, 1778, enacted the following relief measure: 

"Whereas it has appeared to this Assembly, that Richard Hen- 
derson and Company, have been at very great expense, in making 
a purchase of the Cherokee Indians, and although the same has been 
declared void, yet as this Commonwealth is likely to receive great 
advantage therefrom, by increasing its inhabitants, and establishing 



334 History of Tazewell County 

a barrier against the Indians, it is therefore just and reasonable the 
said Richard Henderson and Company be made a compensation for 
their trouble and expense, 

"1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That all that tract 
of land situate, lying, and being on the waters of the Ohio and Green 
rivers, bounded as follows, to wit: beginning at the mouth of Green 
rivex", thence running up the same twelve and a half miles, when 
reduced to a straight line, thence running at right angles with the 
said reduced lines, twelve and a half miles on each side of the said 
river, thence running lines from the termination of the line extended 
on each side of the said Green river, at right angles with the same, 
till the said lines intersect the Ohio, which said river Ohio shall be 
the western boundary of the said tract, be, and the same is hereby 
granted the said Richard Henderson and Company, and their heirs 
and tenants in common, subject to the payment of the same taxes, 
as other lands within this Commonwealth are; * * * jjut this 
grant shall, and it is hereby declared to be in full compensation to 
the said Richard Henderson and Company, and their heirs, for their 
charge and trouble, and for all advantage accruing therefrom to this 
Commonwealth, and they are hereby excluded from any further 
claims to lands, on account of any settlement or improvements here- 
tofore made by them, or any of them, on the lands so as aforesaid 
purchased from the Cherokee Indians," 

As this act declared, the Commonwealth was greatly benefitted 
througli the settlements made by Boone, Henderson and others in 
Kentucky, in that they erected on the western frontier a strong bar- 
rier against the Western Indians. It was of great value to the 
Clinch settlements, because it largely diverted the attention of the 
Western tribes from this region, and relieved our pioneer ancestors 
from hostile invasions by large bands of the red men. But it did 
not relieve the inhabitants on the headwaters of the Clinch and 
Bluestone rivers from frequent bloody attacks by small scalping 
parties. The Sandy River Valley still remained an open way by 
which the Indians could approach undetected the Clinch and Blue- 
stone settlements. 



and Southwest Virginia 335 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 



During the fall, winter and spring following the termination 
of Dunmore's War the Tazewell pioneers pursued their home- 
making labors with increased and unabated ardor. They had been 
here long enough to test the fertility of the soil, and had found they 
were not mistaken in their first estimate of its excellent quality. The 
delightful spring, summer, and autumn seasons they knew would 
more than compensate for the rigorous winter weather that would 
have to be endured for three months each succeeding year. Health, 
abundance of the best food, and other creature comforts, were 
assured to each and every one of the inhabitants that exercised a 
reasonable amount of intelligence and diligence to obtain these bless- 
ings. And the promise of relief from hostile invasions by the 
Indians gave fresh impulse to the purposes and hopes of the settlers 
of turning the wilderness country into a great agricultural and 
grazing region. More horses and cattle were brought out from the 
eastern settlements to be grazed on the ranges in the summer and 
to consume the excess of corn and other grains in the winter. Oats, 
rye and wheat had now been introduced; and the raising of hogs in 
large numbers became popular, as there was an ample supply of 
mast every fall in the forests to fatten thousands of porkers. Num- 
bers of new settlers moved into each community; new cabins were 
built ; the sound of the woodman's axe could be heard ringing during 
the day near every cabin home; and the crash of the falling forest 
giants as they yielded to the sturdy blows of the axemen rever- 
berated from every adjacent mountain hollow. The horrible cloud 
that had been hovering over and about the pioneer homes — the 
frightful massacres by the Indians- — had been swept away ; but a 
terrible storm was gradually approaching from the east, that, before 
many seasons were passed, would find its way into the peaceful val- 
leys where our ancestors were erecting their homes. 

In the spring of 1775 the quarrels between England and her 
American colonies reached a crisis. The British Government was 
forcing the issue of whether the colonies should become sovereign 
independent governments, or be compelled to remain and be ruled 



336 History of Tazewell County 

as dependencies of Great Britain. This question had been agitating 
the mother country and the colonies ever since, 1765, and had 
reached an acute stage which precluded any hope of a peaceful 
settlement. In March, 1774, Parliament passed what was called the 
Boston Port Bill. It was a retaliative measure to punish the people 
of Boston for their physical resistance of the tax on tea imported 
into the colonies. The Port Bill provided that no merchandise of 
any kind should be landed at or shipped from the wharves of Bos- 
ton — with the threat that the other ports of Massachusetts, and the 
ports of all the colonies, would be inflicted with a similar embargo, 
if they followed Boston's example of resistance to the tea tax. When 
the news of the enactment by Parliament of the Port Bill reached 
Williamsburg, the Virginia Assembly, then being in session, im- 
mediately made protest against the outrageous measure; and had 
the protest entered on the journal of the House. Governor Dun- 
more, who was a repressive royalist, was so provoked that he dis- 
solved the assembly and ordered the members to return to their 
homes. Howe, in his history of Virginia says : 

"On the following day the members convened in the Raleigh 
tavern, and, in an able and manly paper, expressed to their constit- 
uents and their government those sentiments and opinions which 
they had not been allowed to express in a legislative form. This 
meeting recommended a cessation of trade with the East India 
Company, a Congress of deputies from all the colonies, 'declaring 
their opinion that an attack upon one of the colonies was an attack 
upon all British America;' and a convention of the people of Vir- 
ginia. The sentiments of the people accorded with those of their 
late delegates ; they elected members who met in convention at Wil- 
limsburg, on the 1st, of August, 1774." 

The convention of Virginians gave a detailed review of the griev- 
ances that had been imposed upon the colonies, demanded measures 
of relief, elected delegates to a general Congress of the colonies, and 
instructed them as to the course they should follow in the Congress. 
Tlie Congress assembled at Philadelphia on the 4th of SeiJtember, 
1774; and was in session while Dunmore was engaged in his expedi- 
tion to Ohio against the Indians. It is believed that Dunmore, in 
part, planned and executed his expedition to Ohio to divert the atten- 
tion of the people of Virginia, and especially those who lived beyond 
the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies, from the exciting and dangerous 
controversies that were going on between the British Government 



and Southwest Virginia 337 

and the colonies. If this was his intention^ he failed most signally 
in its accomplishment. 

On the 14th, of October, 1774, just four days after the Virginia 
mountain men won their eventful victory at Point Pleasant, the 
second Continental Congress, in session at Philadelphia, passed 
strong and defiant resolutions setting forth numerous grievances 
imposed upon the colonies and demanding redress therefor. The 
first clause of the preamble was in the following words : 

"Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British Parliament, 
claiming a power of right to bind the people of America by statute, 
in all cases whatsoever, hath in some Acts expressly imposed taxes 
on them, and on various other pretences, but in fact for the purpose 
of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates and duties payable in these 
Colonies, established a board of commissioners with unconstitutional 
powers and extended the jurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty, 
not only for collecting the said duties but for the trial of causes 
merely arising within the body of a county. And whereas, in con- 
sequence of other statutes, judges, who before held only estates at 
will in their offices, have been made dependent on the Crown alone 
for their salaries, and standing armies kept in time of peace. And 
it has lately been resolved in Parliament, that by force of a statute 
made in the 35th of Henry VIII., colonists may be transported to 
England and tried there upon accusations for treasons and mis- 
prisions, or concealment of treasons, committed in the Colonies; and 
by a late statute, such trials have been directed in cases therein men- 
tioned." 

The second clause of the preamble referred to the Act passed 
by Parliament to discontinue shipping to and from Boston harbor, 
and mentioned the several other acts that had been enacted as sup^ 
plemental of the "Port Bill;" and then declared: "All of which 
statutes are impolitick, unjust and cruel as well as unconstitutional, 
and most dangerous and destructive of American rights." 

In the third clause the dissolving of the legislative bodies by 
colonial governors, as had been done by Dunmore in Virginia, was 
referred to in disapproving terms ; and the fourth clause of the pre- 
amble announced that the deputies of the colonies had been called 
together in a general Congress for the purpose of asserting and 
vindicating their rights and liberties, and to make known to the 

British Government: 
T.H. — 22 



338 History of Tazewell County 

"That the inhabitants of the English Colonies in North America, 
by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English Con- 
stitution and the several charters of compacts, have the following 
Rights." 

A number of rights were claimed for the American colonies and 
set forth in the resolutions that followed the preamble. Among the 
most important of these were: the entitlement of life, liberty and 
property ; the enj oyment of the rights, liberties and immunities of 
free and natural born subjects within the realms of England; the 
right of representation in British Parliament, or to be free from 
taxation by the British Government; the right of Provincial Legis- 
latures alone to legislate in all cases of taxes and internal j^olicy; 
the right of trial by a jury of their peers; and the right to peacably 
assemble and consider their grievances. These and other rights 
were claimed, demanded and insisted upon as their indubitable rights 
and liberties, of which they could not be deprived "without their 
own consent, by their representatives in their several Provincial 
Legislatures." 

After passing these mildly defiant resolutions, the Congress, on 
the 20th day of October, 1774, adopted certain articles of associa- 
tion, fourteen in number, looking to the future trade relations of the 
colonies witli Great Britain and her dependencies. The first article 
provided: 

"That from and after the first day of December next, we will not 
import into British America from Great Britain and Ireland, any 
goods, wares, or merchandize whatsoever, or from any other place, 
any such goods, wares, or merchandize as shall have been exported 
from Great Britain or Ireland, nor will we, after that day import 
any East India tea from any part of the world; nor any molasses, 
syrups, paneles, coffee, or pimento, from British plantations, or from 
Dominica; nor wines from Madeira, or the Western Islands; nor 
foreign indigo." 

The second article was one of seeming little importance at the 
time of its adoption; but if it had been followed strictly after the 
colonies gained tlieir independence it would have averted the Civil 
War of 1861-65. That article is as folloAvs: 

"That we will neither import, nor purchase any slave after the 
first day of December next ; after which time we will wholly discon- 



and Southwest Virginia 339 

tinue the slave trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves 
nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manufac- 
tures to those who are concerned in it." 

All the other articles were directed to the successful enforcement 
of the embargo against Great Britain. The fourth article emphat- 
ically declared that if the obnoxious Acts and parts of Acts passed 
by the British Parliament were not repealed by the 10th of Septem- 
ber, 1775 : "We will not, directly or indirectly, export any merchan- 
dise or commodity whatsoever, to Great Britain, Ireland or the West 
Indies, except via Europe," meaning the neutral countries of Europe. 
One of the articles provided for the appointment by the people of 
the counties, cities and towns of committees to see that persons 
within the limits of their appointments did not violate the pro- 
visions of the articles ; and if violaters were found they were to be 
published as "foes to British America" and "the enemies of 
American liberty." These committees were to be known as safety 
committees. There was also an article directed against profiteering, 
which said: "That all manufactures of this country be sold at 
reasonable prices, so that no undue advantages be taken of a future 
scarcity of goods." 

Previous to adjourning, the Congress prepared a petition to the 
king, addresses to all the several American colonies, and a memorial 
to the people of England, acquainting them with the work that had 
been done and the great purposes of the American people. After 
accomplishing so much for the future good of their country, the 
memorable body of patriots and statesmen adjourned to meet again 
in Philadelphia on the 10th of May, 1775. 

In January, 1775, at the instance of Lord Dartmouth, secretary 
of state for the colonies, the troubles between the colonies and the 
home government were made the subject for a heated discussion in 
Parliament. It was upon this occasion that William Pitt, the Great 
Commoner, became the fearless champion of the rights of the colon- 
ists, and unerringly predicted the results that would flow from an 
adherence to the wicked policy inaugurated by the British ministry. 
The stern demands of the colonies, and their notice that all com- 
mercial intercourse with Great Britain and her dependencies would 
be broken off, unless the demands were granted, so enraged the 
vicious ministers of George III. that Parliament was constrained to 



340 History of Tazewell County 

stand by the Crown. And the Government's policy of outrage and 
oppression was ordained to be continued and mercilessly enforced. 

Already the thought of independence had been lodged and was 
steadily growing in the minds of the colonists ; and nowhere had 
the democratic spirit taken deeper root than with the brave and 
hardy pioneers of the Virginia mountain regions. Among the first 
to act upon the address the Continental Congress had sent to the 
Virginians were the men of Fincastle County. A meeting of the 
freeholders of that county was held at the Lead Mines, the county 
seat, in January, 1775, to consider the resolutions and articles of 
association adopted by the Congress. The first step taken by the 
meeting was the selection of a committee of safety ; and the recorded 
proceedings, as given by Summers, were as follows: 

"In obedience to the resolves of the Continental Congress, a 
meeting of the Freeholders of Fincastle County, in Virginia, was 
held on the 20th day of January, 1775, who after approving of the 
Association framed by" that august body in behalf of the Colonies, 
and subscribing thereto, proceeded to the election of a Committee, 
to see the same carried punctually into execution, when the follow- 
ing gentlemen were nominated: the Reverend Charles Ciimmings, 
Colonel William Preston, Colonel William Christian, Captain 
Stephen Trigg, Major Arthur Campbell, Major William Inglis, 
Captain Walter Crockett, Captain John Montgomery, Captain James 
Mc.Gavock, Captain William Campbell, Captain Thomas Madison, 
Captain Daniel Smith, Captain William Russell, Captain Evan 
Shelby, and Lieutenant William Edmondson. After the election the 
committee made choice of Colonel William Christian for their chair- 
man, and appointed Mr. David Campbell to be clerk." 

It was also ordered by the meeting, that an address expressing 
the thanks and congratulations of the people of Fincastle County be 
prepared and sent to the citizens who had represented Virginia at 
the recent session of the Continental Congress. The address was 
promptly written and forwarded, addressed as follows: 

"To the Honorable Peyton Randoljjh, Esquire, Richard Henry 
Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Junior, Richard Bland, 
Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton, Esquires, the Dele- 
gates from this Colony, who attended the Continental Congress held 
at Philadelphia: ' 



and Southwest Virginia 341 

"Gentlemen, — Had it not been for our remote situation and the 
Indian War which we were lately engaged in to chastise those cruel 
and savage people for the many murders and depredations they have 
committed amongs^ us, now happily terminated under the auspices 
of our present worthy Governor, His Excellency the Right Honor- 
able the Earl of Dunmore, we should before this time have made 
known to you our thankfulness for the very important services you 
have rendered to j'our country, in conjunction with the worthy Dele- 
gates from the other Provinces. Your noble efforts for reconciling 
the mother country and the Colonies, on rational and constitutional 
principles, and your pacifick, steady and uniform conduct in that 
arduous work entitle you to the esteem of all British America, and 
will immortalize you in the annals of your country. We heartily 
concur in your resolutions, and shall, in every instance, strictly and 
invariably adhere thereto. 

"We assure you, gentlemen, and all our countrymen, that we are 
a people whose hearts overflow with love and duty to our lawful 
Sovereign, George the Third, whose illustrious House for several 
successive reigns have been the guardians of the civil and religious 
rights and liberties of British subjects, as settled at the glorious 
Revolution; that we are willing to risk our lives in the service of his 
Majesty for the support of the Protestant religion and the rights 
and liberties of his subjects, as they have been established by com- 
pact, law and ancient charters. We are heartily grieved at the dif- 
ferences which now subsist between the parent state and the Colo- 
nies, and most ardently wish to see harmony restored on an equitable 
basis and by the most lenient measures that can be devised by the 
heart of man. Many of us and our forefathers left our native land, 
considering it as a kingdom subjected to inordinate power and 
greatly abridged of its liberties; we crossed the Atlantic and ex- 
plored this then uncultivated wilderness bordering on many nations 
of savages and surrounded by mountains almost inaccessible to any 
but those very savages, who have incessantly been committing bar- 
barities and depredations on us since our first seating the country. 
These fatigues and dangers we patiently encountered, supported by 
the pleasing hope of enjoying those rights and liberties which had 
been granted to Virginians, and were denied in our native country, 
and of transmitting them inviolate to our posterity ; but even to these 
remote regions the hand of unlimited and unconstitutional power 
hath pursued us, to strip us of that liberty and property with which 



342 History of Tazewell County 

God, nature and the rights of humanity have vested us. We are 
ready and willing to contribute all in our power for the support of 
his Majesty's government, if applied to constitutionally, and when 
the grants are made by our own E,epresentatives,,but cannot think of 
submitting our liberty or property to the power of a venal British 
Parliament, or to the will of a corru^Dt Ministry. We by no means 
desire to shake oH' our duty or allegiance to our lawful sovereign, 
but, on the contrary, shall ever glory in being the loyal subjects of 
a Protestant prince, descended from such illustrious progenitors, so 
long as we can enjoy the free exercise of our religion as Protestants, 
and our liberties and properties as British Subjects. 

"But if no pacifick measures shall be proposed or adopted by 
Great Britain, and our enemies will attempt to dragoon us out of 
those inestimable privileges, which we are entitled to as subjects, 
and to reduce us to a state of slavery, we declare that we are deliber- 
ately and resolutely determined never to surrender them to any 
power upon earth but at the expense of our lives. 

"These are our real, though unpolished, sentiments of liberty 
and loyalty, and in them we are resolved to live or die. 

"We are, gentlemen, witli the most perfect esteem and regard, 
your most obedient servants." 

There is nothing obtainable from contemporaneous records to 
show the number of men that attended the meeting. But there must 
have been a large gathering, with every section of Fincastle County 
represented, the Clinch Valley included, as two members of the 
committee. Captains Smith and Russell, were from that valley. His- 
torians, who have published and commented upon the address, have 
generally abscribed its authorship to Reverend Charles Cummings. 
They aj^pear to have reached this conclusion from tradition. The 
phraseology of the paper shows beyond dispute that it was written 
by a preacher, and not by a soldier or politician. Reverend Cum- 
mings was a preacher, the only one on the Committee, and was its 
most highly educated member. The professions of love and duty 
for George III. and his "illustrious House" indicate that the man 
who drafted the address was an extreme Protestant in religion, and 
found one redeeming virtue in the otherwise repulsive character of 
King George — the adherence of the House of Hanover to the cause 
of Protestantism in its terrible struggle with Roman Catholicism. 
The love and duty which overflowed the hearts of the men of Fincas^ 



and Southwest Virginia 343 

tie and of "the fighting parson," for George III. were made a 
secondary consideration when they realized that their civil and 
religious rights were being violated by the English King. Hence 
their stern intention to defend those rights at any cost, as written 
in a closing paragraph: "We declare that we are deliberately and 
resolutely determined never to surrender them to any power upon 
earth but at the expense of our lives." 

The Tazewell pioneers, no doubt, to a man, were in accord with 
this expressed determination of their fellow-countrymen to resist to 
the utmost any attempt to abridge their rights as American citizens. 
They had been made genuinely and religiously responsive to the 
charm of the freedom they were enjoying in this grand mountain 
country — a freedom that was then unknown in any European mon- 
archy, and which exists in none of them now. Though the worship 
of Kingship had not been discarded by all the settlers west of New 
River, it soon disappeared when there came a clash of arms between 
the patriot colonists and the armies of England. 

Immediately after the news was received in England that the 
Continental Congress had recommended to the colonies a suspension 
of all commercial intercourse with Great Britain and her depend- 
encies. Parliament retaliated by ordering that the colonies be 
forced into acceptance of the obnoxious shipping laws and the tax 
on tea. General Gage, who had recently been made governor of 
Massachusetts, was ordered to begin a campaign of subjugation; 
and a fleet and an army of ten thousand men were sent him from 
England to aid in the campaign. As soon as his plans were settled 
upon. Gage seized and fortified Boston Neck, had the military stores 
in the arsenals at Cambridge and Charlestown removed to Boston, 
and issued peremptory orders to the Massachusetts General Assem- 
bly to dissolve and disperse. Instead of cringingly obeying the com- 
mands of the governor, the members resolved themselves into a Pro- 
vincial Congress to devise plans and furnish means for meeting force 
with force. They appropriated money for the organization an^i 
equipping of an armj^ of twelve thousand men for the defence of 
the colony. It was a daring and dangerous course of action for a 
feeble colony to follow, to thus defy the greatest naval and military 
power of the world. But the patriots of Massachusetts had received 
assurances from Virginia and her other sister colonies that they 
would stand faithfully by them in the mighty struggle to preserve 
inviolate their rights as American freemen. 



344 History of Tazewell County 

BATTLES OF LEXINGTON AND BUNKER HILL. 

When Gage began to reveal his purpose to use an armed force to 
suppress the spirit of revolt, the people of Boston decided to take 
their supplies of arms and ammunition to Concord, sixteen miles dis- 
tant. This was effected by concealing the ammunition in cart loads 
of rubbish and hauling the supplies to the desired destination. In 
some way Gage was informed of the movement of the Boston people ; 
and he secretly sent Colonel Smith and Major Pitcairn with a regi- 
ment of eight hundred soldiers, on the night of the 18th of April, 
for the two-fold purpose of destroying the stores of ammunition 
and capturing John Hancock and Samuel Adams. These two men 
were the main leaders of the revolt in Massachusetts. The detach- 
ment of soldiers started for Concord about midnight, and the move- 
ment was quickly discovered by some of the alert citizens. They 
gave an alarm to the people of Boston, Cambridge and Charlestown 
by ringing bells and firing cannon. The fearless patriot, Joseph 
Warren started Paul Revere on his memorable midnight ride through 
Charlestown to Concord and Lexington to warn the people of the 
hostile approach of the Bi-itish soldiers under Smith and Pitcairn. 
This ride has ever since been famous in song and story. Revere 
eluded the enemy pickets and succeeded in arousing the people; 
and when the British column reached Lexington a company of militia, 
commanded by Captain John Parker, was formed on the town com- 
mon to meet. the coming foe. Pitcairn was in charge of the advance 
troops, and when he saw the patriots were prepared to resist his 
progress, he halted his men, ordered them to load their gims and 
advanced at the double-quick upon Parker and his men. Riding at 
the front. Major Pitcairn cried out: "Disperse, ye villains ! Throw 
down your arms, ye rebels and disperse;" but the Americans reso- 
lutely held their ground. Major Pitcairn, seeing their purpose not 
to yield, fired his pistol at them and then ordered his men to fire. 
The order was obeyed, and the first dicharge of the British musk- 
ets killed four and wounded nine of the Massachusetts men. This 
was the first volley that was fired in the Revolutionary War. 

Being greatly outnumbered the Americans began to disperse, and 
four more of their number were killed while retreating. A scatter- 
ing fire from Captain Parker's men wounded three of the British 
soldiers and Major Pitcairn's horse. The militia having dispersed, 
the British column marched on to effect the main obiect of the 



and Southwest Virginia 345 

expedition; and arrived at Concord at 7:30 o'clock in the morning. 
They found but little aromunition there, as the inhabitants had 
moved the larger part of their stores to other places for concealment. 
Two cannons were spiked and their carriages destroyed, and a small 
quantity of ammunition was thrown into a nearby mill pond. While 
the British were engaged in their work of devastation, the surround- 
ing country having been thoroughly aroused, minute-men began to 
assemble from all directions. The Americans determined to enter 
the village and drive the British away; and, in carrying out this 
design, found a company of the enemy guarding the North Bridge 
that spanned Concord River. On discovery of the British, the 
American officers for the first time ordered their men to fire, and 
two of the enemy were killed by this first volley of the Americans. 
From that moment the colonists became the aggressors in the run- 
ning battle that has since been called the "Battle of Lexington." 
The bridge was captured by the provincials, the enemy retired into 
the town, and then began to retreat along the road to Lexington. 
Between Concord and Lexington many of the patriots had concealed 
themselves on the sides of the road ; and for six miles along the high- 
way the terrified British soldiers were treated to a galling fire by 
the men who were hidden behind rocks, trees, fences and barns. 
Lord Percy met the fugitives a short distance from Lexington with 
reinforcements, and saved Colonel Smith's forces from a complete 
rout. The fight was continued, however, until the precincts of 
Charlestown were reached. As the conflict continued the untrained 
Americans gained courage and confidence, and would probably have 
demanded the surrender of Smith's and Pitcaim's forces if they had 
not feared that the British fleet would bombard and burn Boston. 
The losses of the Americans in the first battle of the war were forty- 
nine killed, thirtj^-four wounded and five missing, while the Britisli 
losses in killed and wounded numbered two hundred and seventy- 
three. 

The news of the battle of Lexington spread through all the 
colonies with remarkable rapidity, though the means the provinces 
had for communicating with each other were very limited. It filled 
the masses of the people, who had determined to separate them- 
selves from the monarchy of England, with enthusiasm. The victory 
proved that America had the men, and, if adequate means could be 
obtained for maintaining her armies, success was assured for the 
Revolution. 



346 History of Tazewell County 

New England was fired with zeal for the American cause, and 
within a few days after the battle was fought an army of twenty 
thousand patriots had gathered about Boston. Nearly all the leaders 
and many of the men of this provincial host were veterans of the 
French and Indian War. A line of entrenchments was thrown up 
which surrounded the city from Roxbury to Chelsea^, and it was the 
common purpose of the Colonials to drive Gage with his army from 
the city. The Colonial forces were constantly increasing in numbers. 
John Stark arrived with the New Hampshire militia; grand old 
Israel Putman was plowing when tidings of the battle of Lexington 
reached him ; he left his plow in the field, turned his oxen loose, 
mounted a horse and rode to Cambridge in one day, a distance of 
sixty-eight miles. He procured a commission of brigadier general 
from the provincial legislature, spurned a commission of major gen- 
eral offered him in the royal army, organized a regiment of men, 
and afterwards joined his compatriots at Boston. Nathaniel Green 
came with Rhode Island's quota, and Benedict Arnold arrived with 
the provincials from New Haven. 

Events of great interest to the colonies occurred in rapid suc- 
cession. Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain boys on the 9th of 
May captured Ticonderoga. With a mere handful of men, eighty- 
three in number, Allen crossed Lake Champlain and made a surprise 
attack at daybreak upon tlie fort. The sentinel at the gate was 
driven from his post, and Allen's men faced the barracks ready to 
fire upon the garrison if resistance was showr\. Allen, with Benedict 
Arnold, who had gone along as a private, rushed to the quarters of 
Delaplace, the commandant, roused him from his slumbers, and 
called for a surrender of the fort. When Delaplace asked: "By 
what authority?" Allen flourished his sword and shouted: "In the 
name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." The 
English officer, with his garrison of forty^eight men surrendered a 
fort which had cost Great Britain eight million pounds sterling. 
Two days afterwards the Americans took Skenesborough and Crown 
Point ; and all the northern region was wrested from the English. 

Generals Howe, Clinton and Burgoyne arrived at Boston on the 
25th of Ma}^, bringing with them heavy reinforcements from Eng- 
land and Ireland, increasing the British army to more than ten 
thousand men. The British generals lost no time in preparing plans 
to bring the Americans into submission. General Gage issued a 
proclamation in which he pronounced the revolting colonists rebels 



and Southwest Virginia 347 

and traitors, but offered pardon to all, except John Hancock and 
Samuel Adams, who would lay down their arms and renew their 
allegiance to England, This arrogant proposition was scornfully 
rejected by the patriotic men of New England. 

The Americans in some way obtained information that the 
British were getting ready to make sallies from Boston, to drive 
away the provincial forces and devastate the surrounding country. 
Influenced by this information, on the night of June 16th a thousand 
men under the command of Colonel Prescott, grandfather of the 
great historian of that name, equijDped with picks and sjjades, slij)- 
ped away from the American camp and threw up entrenchments on 
Bunker Hill. A redoubt eight rods square was planned by the 
engineers, and by daybreak was nearly completed. The British 
ships were so near that the Americans while at work could hear the 
sentinels on the vessels calling out, on the hours, "All is well." At 
day-dawn the fortifications were revealed to the British, and it was 
seen that Prescott's cannon would command the city. General Gage 
and his officers decided that the safety of the British army demanded 
expulsion of the Americans from the fortifications on the hill. The 
guns of the fleet, and the British batteries on Copp's Hill, were 
turned loose on the American position, but did little damage. About 
noon a British force of three thousand veterans, commanded by 
Generals Howe and Pigot, landed at Morton's Point and made an 
assault upon the Americans. Prescott had at this time fifteen hun- 
dred men, who were weary and hungry, but they bravely stood to 
their guns and awaited the approach of the enemy. Generals Put- 
nam and Warren entered the trenches and fought throughout the 
battle as privates. The British column was ordered to advance at 
three o'clock and at the same time,"by prearrangement, every gun of 
the fleet and the shore batteries of the British was opened upon the 
Americans. Prescott directed his men not to fire until an order was 
given them. When the enemy got within fifty yards of the trenches 
the order to fire was given, and every gun in the redoubt was quickly 
discharged. The front line of the British was swept away by the 
deadly aim of the Americans ; and the enemy recoiled and retreated 
beyond small gun range. 

As quickly as possible the British lines were reformed and 
another advance was made upon the Americans, with the same result 
as the first. A third assault was made and the Americans had but 
three or four rounds of ammunition per man left, and as soon as this 



348 History of Tazewell County 

was exhausted the British host scaled the trenches. The Americans 
clubbed their guns and still fought the enemy, but were forced to 
retire from the trenches at the point of the bayonet. The British lost 
a thousand and fifty-four, killed and wounded, in the battle, while 
the American losses were one hundred and fifteen killed, three hun- 
dred and five wounded, and thirty-two prisoners. Among the Amer- 
ican dead was the gallant General Warren. The retreat was effected 
by way of Charlestown Neck and Prospect Hill, and a new line of 
entrenchments was made, which left with the Americans command 
of the entrance to Boston ; and the battle of Bunker Hill gave fresh 
encouragement to the colonists. When the news of the battle was 
carried to the Southern provinces the spirit of resistance to British 
tyranny was greatly increased; and the scheme for forming the 
government of The United Colonies of America was given fresh 
impulse. 

The day that Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain boys cap- 
tured Ticonderoga the Continental Congress reassembled at Phila- 
delphia, pursuant to adjournment the previous autumn. George 
Washington, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, 
Patrick Henry, and others, who were to he conspicuous figures in 
the Revolution, were members of the august body. 

Composed of such men as these, the Congress was still controlled 
by a conservative and compromising spirit. The delegates were so 
reluctant to engage in a bloody conflict with the mother country that 
another written appeal was prepared and forwarded to George III., 
urging him to recede from his policy of oppression toward his 
American subjects. In this memorial, however, the king was given 
to understand that, if necessary, the colonies would fight to the 
bitter end for the preservation of their civil and religious freedom. 
Congress recognized the necessity for co-ordinating the military 
forces of the colonies and took steps for organizing a Continental 
army. The necessity for having a commander-in-chief was also seen, 
and John Adams nominated George Washington, of Virginia, for 
the responsible position. On the 15th of June, 1775, Congress 
unanimously confirmed his nomination. Washington was so awed by 
the heavy responsibilities he was called upon to bear that, with 
tears in his eyes, he remarked to Patrick Henry: "I fear that this 
day will mark the downfall of my reputation." But the great patriot 
accepted the heavy task and proceeded to Boston as quickly as pes- 



and Southwest Virginia 349 

sible to take command of the Continental army at that place, which 
was accomplished fifteen days after the battle of Bunker Hill. 

During the spring, summer and fall of, 1775, the authority of 
England's King was superseded by independent republican govern- 
ments in all the colonies. The Virginia colonists had kept apace 
with the colonies of New England. In March a convention of Vir- 
ginians was held in Old St. John's Church at Richmond. Patrick 
Henry urged that an army be raised to resist British oppression; 
and in support of his suggestion made the wonderful speech that 
would have immortalized him if he had done nothing else to assist 
in freeing his countrymen from enslavement by England. 

The hostile conduct of the colonies caused the issuance of orders 
to the several colonial governors to place all military stores beyond 
the reach of the patriots. In compliance with these orders. Governor 
Dunmore, on the 19th of April, 1775, secretly removed the gun- 
powder from the magazine at Williamsburg, and stored it on the 
Magdalen, a British man-of-war, that was anchored off Yorktown. 
The people of Williamsburg remonstrated with Dunmore and threat- 
ened to seize his person if the powder was not returned. Dunmore 
was so exasperated that he swore if any injury was offered to him- 
self or the officers who had acted under his orders, he would free 
the slaves and destroy Williamsburg with fire. These brutal threats 
not only failed to suppress the people, but caused such indignation 
throughout the colony that thousands of men from all sections of 
Virginia armed themselves, assembled at Fredericksburg, and offered 
their services to defend the capital and drive Dunmore from the 
colony. Patrick Henry was the leader of this movement ; and Dun^ 
more was so greatly alarmed that he sent the King's receiver-general 
to Henry and paid him for the powder. 

CONVENTION OF FINCASTLE MEN. 

On the 15th of July, 1775, the Committee of Safety for Fincastle 
County met at the Lead Mines. After protesting against the dis- 
honorable acts of Dunmore, the following resolutions were adopted: 

"Resolved, that the spirited and meritorious conduct of Patrick 
Henry, Esq., and the rest of the gentlemen volunteers attending him 
on the occasion of the removal of the gunpowder out of the magazine 
at Williamsburg, very jxistly merits the very hearty approbation of 
this Committee, for which we return them our thanks, with an assur- 
ance that we will, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, support and 
justify them with regard to the reprisals they made. 



350 History of Tazewell County 

"Resolved, That the council of this Colony in advising and co- 
operating with Lord Dunmore in issuing the proclamation of the 
3rd of May last, charging the people of this Colony with an ungov- 
ernable spirit and licentious practices, is contrary to many known 
matters of fact, and but too justly shows to us that those who ought 
to be mediators and guardians of our liberties are become the abject 
tools of a detested administration. 

"Resolved that it is the opinion of this committee that the late 
sanguinary attempt and preparation of the King's troops, in the 
colony of Narragansett Bay, are truly alarming and irritating, and 
loudly call upon all, even the most distant and interiour parts of the 
Colonies, to prepare and be ready for the extreme event, by a fixed 
resolution and a firm and manly resolve to avert ministei'ial cruelty 
in defence of our reasonable rights and liberties." 

In this way the people of Fincastle County, including the set- 
tlers of Clinch Valley, thoroughly identified themselves with the 
struggle the American colonies were making for their independence. 
As soon as the Colonial Convention, which met at Williamsburg on 
the 24th of July, 1775, made provision for the raising of two regi- 
ments of soldiers, to be commanded by Patrick Henry, the county of 
Fincastle promptly sent a company of its daring riflemen to 
Williamsburg. The company was under the command of Captain 
William Campbell, and did valiant service in the struggle which was 
then taking place between Governor Dunmore and the revolting 
colonists. Historians have vainly tried to find a roll of the men 
who composed Campbell's company. Captain Campbell lived in the 
Holston Valley, and it is reasonable to suppose that most of the 
members of his company were from that valley. It is more than 
probable that some were from the Clinch Valley, as this valley fur- 
nished men for all preceding and succeeding military expeditions 
that went from the country west of New River. 

Dunmore had, on the 8th of June, fled from Williamsburg and 
gone on board the warship Fowey at Yorktown. The General 
Assembly invited him to return to Williamsburg to sign bills of 
importance to the colony, and perform other necessary duties of his 
ofl!ice. He refused to exercise the functions of governor in associa- 
tion with the General Assembly, unless that body would hold its 
sessions at Yorktown, where he could be protected by the guns of 
his ship. This proposal was rejected by the Assembly, and all offi- 
cial intercourse between it and the governor was terminated. The 



and Southwest Virginia 



351 



last of June, Dunmore sailed down York River, away from the seat 
of government, and was never again at Williamsburg. 

Regarding the royal government in Virginia as ended, the Gen- 
eral Assembly was dissolved with an agreement that the members 
would meet in convention at Richmond to organize a provisional 
government and formulate a plan of defence. The convention met, 
pursuant to agreement, on the 17th of July, and elected a committee 
of safety to temporarily direct the affairs of the new government. 




The old Magazine, still standing at Williamsburg, from which 
Governor Dunmore removed the powder. 

This committee was composed of the following then distinguished, 
and afterwards illustrious citizens of Virginia :^ — Edmund Pendle- 
ton, George Mason, John Page, Richard Bland, Thomas Ludwell 
Lee, Paul Carrington, Dudley Digges, James Mercer, Carter Brax- 
ton, William Cabell, and John Tabb. This excellent committee very 
efficiently and loyally administered the government until the 1st of 
July, 1776, when the State Government was organized, with Patrick 
Henry as Governor. 

After he sailed from Yorktown in June, 1775, Dunmore remained 
for about a year at different localities on the Chesapeake Bay, and 
there were several collisions of minor importance between his troops 
and the Colonials. He finally located on Gwynn's Island, off the 
coast of the present Matthews County. From that place he was 
driven away on the 9th of July, 1776, by General Andrew Lewis, 
who was then commander of all the Virginia military forces. 



352 History of Tazewell County 

It looked like retributive justice for the splendid mountain 
soldier to enjoy the privilege of chasing the treacherous Scotch 
Royalist Governor from the soil of the Old Dominion. Lewis felt 
that Dunmore had acted insincerely and treacherously toward him 
and his army of mountaineers after they had made their laborious 
and dangerous march to Ohio in 1774; and the last official act of 
Dunmore tended to confirm this suspicion of his integrity. His last 
official act was the issuing of an order for disbanding the garrison 
at Fort Blair, the fort which Colonel Andrew Lewis had built at the 
mouth of the Kanawha after he had defeated the Shawnees at Point 
Pleasant. This order was made in furtherance of a diabolical 
scheme to turn the Ohio Indians loose upon the Virginia frontiers 
while the war was raging between Great Britain and the colonies. 
The plan of execution was to be worked out by John Connolly, the 
despised Tory agent of Dunmore, who had been the latter's com- 
panion and adviser on the Ohio expedition in the autumn of 1774. 
Connolly was sent to General Gage at Boston, and returned from 
that place in October invested with a commission of lieutenant 
colonel of a regiment of loyalists to be raised on the frontiers. The 
plans agreed upon were to have the various Indian tribes co-operate 
with the Tories in harrassing the frontiers, then to assemble at 
Fort Pitt, and from there march to Alexandria, where they would 
be joined by Dunmore. The plot was for a time successfully 
advanced, but suspicions were at last awakened that led to the arrest 
of one of Connolly's emmisaries, upon whose person incriminating 
papers were found. This was followed by the arrest of Connolly 
and two confederates, Allen Cameron and Dr. John Smith, both 
Scotchmen. They were apprehended at Hagerstown, Maryland, en- 
route for Detroit, where they were going to bribe the Indians and 
incite them to begin murdering the frontier settlers. When the bag- 
gage of Connolly was searched a general plan of the entire campaig-n 
was discovered. Large sums of money and a letter from Dunmore 
to one of the great Indian chiefs were also found. The discovery of 
the plot saved all the western frontiers for a time from a concerted 
invasion by the Indians and Connolly's regiment of Tories. Con- 
nolly was held a prisoner until 1781, when he succeeded in making 
his escape to Canada. After his arrival in Canada he plotted a 
descent upon Pittsburg, and in 1782 conducted a force which 
destroyed Hannastown. 



and Southwest Virginia 353 



CHAPTER XII. 

FIRST CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION— DECLARES UNITED COLONIES 

FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES— DECLARATION OF RIGHTS 

AND CONSTITUTION ADOPTED. 

In conformity with the requirements of an ordinance passed by 
the convention held at Richmond in 1775, the Committee of Safety 
for Virginia directed that the people of each of the counties of the 
province elect delegates to a General Convention to be held for 
the purpose of organizing a constitutional government. The dele- 
gates to this convention were chosen in the same manner that mem- 
bers of the House of Burgesses had formerly been elected. Fin- 
castle County sent as its delegates Arthur Campbell and William 
Russell. Though the settlements in the Clinch Valley had been 
started less than ten years previous, it seems that this great valley j 

had already attained sufficient importance and population to have , j 

one of its first settlers represent Fincastle County in the convention f » 

that organized the government of the State of Virginia. j^- 

The convention assembled in the capitol at Williamsburg the 6th j 

day of May, 1776. On the same day the House of Burgesses, elected 
under the royal government, also met at the capitol, but concluded 
that it had no legal existence, as the royal government had been 
overthrown. The General Convention was organized by electing 
. Edmund Pendleton, president, and John Tazewell, clerk of the body. 
On the 15th of May, the convention instructed their delegates in 
Congress to declare the United Colonies free and independent States. 
The instructions were given by the adoption of a resolution, which 
is as follows: 

"That the delegates appointed to represent this colony in Gen- 
eral Congress, be instructed to propose to that respectable body, 
to declare the united colonies free and independent States, absolved 
from all allegiance to, or dependence on the crown or parliament of 
Great Britain; and that they give the assent of this colony to such 
declaration, and whatever measures may be thought necessary by 
Congress for forming alliances, and a confederation of the colonies, 
at such time, and in the manner that to them shall seem best; pro- 
vided, that the power of forming governments for, and the regula- 
T.H.— 23 



354 History of Tazewell County 

tions of the internal concerns of each colony, be left to the colonial 
legislatures." 

The convention on the same day this resolution was adopted also 
appointed a committee to prepare a DECLARATION OF 
RIGHTS, and such a PLAN OF GOVERNMENT 'as would be 
most likely to maintain peace and order in the colony and secure 
substantial and equal liberty to the people." George Mason was 
added to the committee on the 18th, and on the 27th of May, 1776, 
Archibald Gary, chairman of the committee, reported the Bill of 
Rights to the convention, and it was ordered to be printed for perusal 
by the members. 

After it had been printed, the bill was considered in the com- 
mittee of the whole on tlie 29th of May and the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 
10th of June. It was again reported to the House with amendments 
on the nth, the amendments were agreed to, and it was ordered that 
the declaration, as amended, be fairly transcribed and read a third 
time. This was done; and on the 12th of June the declaration had 
its third reading and was unanimously adopted without debate. It 
has ever since been considered and retained as the most vital part 
of the organic law of Virginia. 

The fathers were confronted with grave issues when they essayed 
to make a democratic plan of government for themselves and their 
eager countrymen. They had to cut loose from the monarchical 
forms under which they and their ancestors had lived for centuries 
and sever the ties that bound them to kindred and mother country. 
But, inspired with the spirit of freedom that had been living and 
growing for more than a hundred years on Virginia soil, thev 
developed a plan of government that will stand unsurpassed in 
excellence as long as civilization endures. 

It is admitted by all persons, who have an intelligent knowledge 
of its provisions, that the Virginia Bill of Rights is the most com- 
prehensive, compact and perfect charter of human liberty and popu- 
lar government that has ever been written. Constitutions may have 
to be made elastic and may need frequent revisions ; but tlie Virginia 
Bill of Rights requires nothing more than honest interpretation and 
application to insure for those persons wlio desire to live under its 
aegis the purest and best form of democratic government. Its funda- 
mental principles were in perfect accord with the aspirations and 



and Southwest Virginia 355 

purposes that influenced the Tazewell pioneers to seek this beautiful 
but wild and isolated region for rearing their families. 

Immediately after the adoption of the Bill of Rights the conven- 
tion proceeded to frame a constitution for the new State of Virginia. 
The constitution was proclaimed on the 29th of June; and the 
authority of the Committee of Safety, which had been conducting 
the affairs of the colony for a year, was vacated. Then the conven- 
tion proceeded to organize the civil department of the government 
of the Commonwealth as follows : 

"Patrick Henry, Esq., governor. John Page, Dudley Digges, 
John Tayloe, John Blair, Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley, Bartho- 
lomew Dandridge, Charles Carter of Shirley, and Benjamin Harri- 
son of Brandon, counsellors of state. Thomas Whiting, John 
Hutchins, Champion Travis, Thomas Newton, Jun., and George 
Webb, Esquires, commissioners of admirality. Thomas Everard and 
James Cocke, Esquires, commissioners for settling accounts. 
Edmund Randolph, Esq., attorney-general." 

Only a few days intervened between the adoption of the Virginia 
Bill of Rights by the Virginia Convention and the adoption of the 
Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress. That 
wonderful document, which declared all the American colonies were 
free of British misi-ule, was drafted by Virginia's greatest citizen, 
Thomas Jefferson, and on lines that correspond with the resolu- 
tions of the Virginia Convention. The Declaration of Independence 
was adopted on the 4th of July, 1776, was proclaimed the 8th, and 
as promptly as possible read to each Division of the Continental 
army, and transmitted to governing authorities of each of the col- 
onies. On the 29th of July it was proclaimed at the capitol, the 
court house, and the palace at Williamsburg. The proclamation was 
heard with joy by the people and was saluted with the firing of 
cannon and musketry. 

After Virginia became an independent government, it was neces- 
sary to reorganize the civil government of Fincastle County. The 
first county court under the State Constitution was held at the Lead 
Mines on the 3rd of September, 1776, with the following members 
of the court in attendance: William Preston, James McGavock, 
Arthur Campbell, John Montgomery, and James McCorkle. 

The court appointed William Preston sheriff and county lieu- 



356 History of Tazewell County 

tenant; William Sayers, deputy sheriff; and Stephen Trigg, deputy 
clerk. 

FRONTIERS ATTACKED BY INDIANS KENTUCKY, WASHINGTON AND 

MONTGOMERY COUNTIES FORMED. 

While the Virginia Convention was in session at Williamsburg, 
the fiendish scheme orignated by Dunmore, and managed by Con- 
nolly until he was captured at Hagerstown, for uniting the North- 
western and Southern Indians with the Tories to kill and plunder 
the patriots on the western frontier, was being perfected by the 
agents of Great Britain. As previously stated, the last official act 
of Dunmore as governor of Virginia was to order the withdrawal of 
the garrison from Fort Blair at the mouth of Kanawha River. This 
left the entire frontier of Virginia bordering on the Ohio without any 
military post, and left it wide open to invasion by the Indians. As 
soon as the General Assembly, elected under the Virginia Constitu- 
tion, met at the capitol the Legislature re-established the garrison at 
Fort Blair, and had another stockade fort built a short distance up 
the river. The new fort was named Fort Randolph, and a regular 
garrison was stationed there, with Captain Arbuckle in command. 
From the mouth of the Kanawha on down the Ohio as far as the 
Virginia territory extended there were no stations along the river. 
The Sandy Valley was unguarded from the Ohio to the headwaters 
of the three principal tributaries of Sandy River, all of which had 
their source in the territory afterwards formed into Tazewell County. 
So, the Upper Clinch Valley and Bluestone settlements were left 
exposed, as they had been in 1774, to incursions by the Shawnees 
and other tribes in Ohio. 

About the time that Virginia was erected into an independent 
democratic government, in July, 1776, the Delaware, Shawnee and 
Mingo chiefs gathered at Fort Pitt and solemnly declared that they 
would remain neutral in the conflict that had begun between the 
Americans and Great Britain. The Iroquois had representatives at 
the council, and, after declaring for neutrality, asserted that the 
tribes of that nation would not allow either the Americans or the 
British to march their armies over or through the territory of the 
Six Nations. They urged the Shawnees and Delawares to adopt the 
same policy toward the belligerents. This action of the Indians, in 
proclaiming neutrality, stimulated the agents of the British Govern- 



and Southwest Virginia 357 

ment to greater effort for securing the assistance of the red men to 
exterminate the frontier settlers or drive them from their homes. 

Henry Hamilton, who was the British lieutenant governor for 
the northwestern territory, was selected by his government to seduce 
the Indians from their pledged neutrality. He was a bold and 
unscrupulous man, and well fitted for the execution of the wicked 
purposes of the British Government. His influence with the Indians 
was on a plane with his unscrupulous character, and he succeeded in 
enlisting the support of most of the Northwestern Indians on the 
side of the British. In the fall of 1776, Hamilton summoned the 
Northwestern tribes to meet him in councils at Detroit. The tribes 
of that region were strongly represented at the councils; and the 
Iroquois, who had abandoned their position of neutrality, sent 
ambassadors to urge the Northwestern Indians to compose their 
differences, and unite with the Six Nations in their support of the 
British against the Americans. The fiendish Hamilton made free 
use of presents and "fire water" to excite the Indians into acquies- 
cence; and succeeded only too well in his brutal desig-ns. By direc- 
tion of the British authorities, he promised the savages that they 
should be paid a liberal price for every American scalp they took 
and delivered to him or other agents of his government, the prices 
being graduated and fixed for the scalps of men, women, and chil- 
dren. In some instances fifty dollars was the price paid for a scalp ; 
and one cunning Indian divided a large scalp into two parts, receiv- 
ing fifty dollars for each part. Roosevelt, in "Winning of the West," 
speaking of Hamilton and his beastly associates, says: 

"These were hardened, embittered men who paid for the zeal 
of their Indian allies accordingly as they received tangible proof 
thereof; in other words, they hired them to murder non-combatants 
as well as soldiers, and paid for each life, of any sort, that was 
taken. The fault lay primarily with the British Government, and 
with its advisers who, like Hamilton, advocated the employment of 
the savages. They thereby became participants in the crimes com- 
mitted; and it was idle folly for them to prate about having bidden 
the savages be merciful. * * * Making all allowance for the 
strait in which the British found themselves, and admitting that 
much can be said against their accusers, the fact remains that they 
urged on hordes of savages to slaughter men, women, and children 



358 History of Tazewell County 

along tl,e entire frontier; and for tins there must ever rest a dark 
stam on t/ieir national history." 

Having won the Indians to the support of Great Britain, Hamil- 
ton began to make preparations for attacking the frontiers the fol- 
lowing sprir,g. He organized a company of white men. which was 
made „p of French. British, and Tories who had gathered at Detroit 

Mekee, Matthew Elhott, and Simon Girty, These infamous white 
men were engaged to lead the savages in the campaign designed 
to extermrnate the white settlers on the borders. Hamilton had been 
ordered by his superior officers to execute the plans agreed upon 
by General Howe and Dr. John Connolly the preceding spring that 
.s, o attack the frontier settlements of Virginia and ^ennsyfjania 
destroy the crops of the settlers, burn their houses, and kill the 
.nhab.tants, regardless of age or sex, or drive them east of the 
Alleghames. Another pledge was made the Indians to induce them 
to g,ve the.r earnest support to the British. Hamilton was ordered 
to and d,d promise them that they would not only be paid liberally 
for the scalps they took, but that they would be given back thei'r 
former hunting grounds, from which the white settlers were to be 
ej ected. 

Maddened with liquor and ensnared by the liberal gifts of the 
Enghsh agents the poor, ignorant savages indulged the hope that 
the Bnt,sh would restore to them their hunting grounds south and 
eas of the Oh,o. Of course "Perfidious Albion" would never, if it 
could have done so, made good this pledge to the red men. In 
October 1773, the Privy Council had made a grant to Thomas Wal- 
pole and a company of Englishmen for all the territory belonging 
to Virgm,a situated west of the Alleghanies. Walpole and hit 
speculative associates were to establish a new province to be called 
Vandaha, with the seat of government located at the mouth of the 
Kanawha on the Point Pleasant battle ground. 

Evidently it was the intention of the British Government to 
force the settlers from the regions west of the Allegliany mountains; 
and a ter bringing the colonies into subjection, turn ov;r to Thomas 
Walpole and his associate Englishmen the extensive territory granted 
hem by the Privy Council. The Revolutionary War first obstructed 
and then defeated Walpole's scheme. If the war had been won 



and Southwest Virginia 359 

by Great Britain, the pioneer settlers of the Clinch Valley, who 
had obtained no legal titles to their lands, would have been evicted 
from their holdings or forced to pay a price therefor to the English 
speculators. 

Early in the spring of 1777, Hamilton collected his motley forces 
and dispatched them on their mission of bloodshed and devastation. 
War parties of Indians, accompanied by white leaders, crossed the 
Ohio, and began to make attacks upon the border settlements from 
the Monongahela and Kanawha to the Kentucky River. Scouting 
parties sent out by the whites gave due warning of the approach 
of the enemy. Though greatly alarmed for the safety of their fami- 
lies, the settlers did not flee from their threatened homes, but made 
the best preparation they could to repel the attacks of the Indians. 
The Tazewell pioneers placed their families in the neighborhood 
forts, several new forts were built, and nearly every strong log cabin 
was made a block-house with loop-holed walls, heavily barred doors, 
and other defensive arrangements. 

The savages started out by Hamilton were fully supplied with 
gims, tomahawks, and scalping knives, and an abundance of powder 
and lead. These supplies had been sent from the British arsenals in 
Canada; and, thus equipped, the Indians made the year 1777 one 
full of horrors for the backwoodsmen. Roosevelt says: 

"The captured women and little ones were driven off to the far 
interior. The weak among them, the young children, and the women 
heavy with child were tomahawked and scalped as soon as their 
steps faltered. The able-bodied, who could stand the terrible 
fatigue, and reached their journey's end, suffered various fates. 
Some were burned at the stake, others were sold to the French or 
British traders, and long afterwards made their escape, or were 
ransomed by their relatives. Still others were kept in the Indian 
camps, the women becoming the slaves or wives of the warriors, 
while the children were adopted into the tribe, and grew up pre- 
cisely like their little red-skinned playmates." 

This, I believe, is the first recorded instance of the dishonouring 
of captive white women by the Indians. The awful fate that befell 
these white women was due, no doubt, to the bestial influence exer- 
cised over the savages by their vicious white leaders — the British, 



360 History of Tazewell County 

French, and renegade white Americans — who organized and led the 
Indians in their ferocious attacks upon the frontier settlements. 

The first settlers in Tazewell County had the good fortune to 
escape the frightful experiences that the inhabitants of Kentucky 
and the region east of the Kanawha had to pass through during the 
year 1777. There was but one invasion of the Upper Clinch Valley 
during that year by the Indians, at least, Bickley makes no mention 
of but one, and none others have been handed down by tradition. 
This escape of our pioneer ancestors from massacres was largely due 
to the rapid colonization of Kentucky, under the direction of Boone, 
Harrod, Logan and others. 

The Kentucky settlements were so near to the Shawnees and 
other hostile western tribes, and the hunting grounds in that region 
being the finest on the continent, that it was the easiest and most 
attractive prize the Indians would win under their contract with the 
British Government. Moreover, the heavy and rapid emigration 
which was pressing on to the southern banks of the Ohio gave warn- 
ing to the Indians that the white men, if not obstructed, would very 
soon cross the Ohio and drive the red men beyond the Mississippi, 
or into Canada. Consequently, the Indians gave their first and most 
resolute attention to winning back from the whites the magnificent 
Kentucky region. 



and Southwest Virginia 361 

CHAPTER XIII. 

KENTUCKY, WASHINGTON, AND MONTGOMERY COUNTIES ARE FORMED. 

The permanent settlers in Kentucky had increased to the num- 
ber of about six hundred by the spring of 1776, and they became 
ambitious, for sound reasons, to organize their settlements into a 
distinct county. They were completely detached from the Clinch 
Vallej'^ and Holston settlements in Fincastle County; and believed, 
or knew, they had no representation in the civil government of either 
Fincastle County or of the State of Virginia. The people who had 
refused to accept or recognize Henderson's Transylvania govern- 
ment determined to elect two delegates to the General Assembly of 
Virginia ; and send a petition to that body, asking that a new county 
be formed, to be called Kentucky. In pursuance of this plan, an 
election, which continued for five days, was held at Harrodsburg, 
in June, 1770. George Rodgers Clark, who was then abiding at 
Harrodsburg, and Captain John Gabriel Jones were elected dele- 
gates to the General Assembly. Without delay Clark and his col- 
league started for Williamsburg, carrying with them the certificate 
of their election and the petition for the new county. 

In their petition the Kentuckians assailed the usurpations of 
Henderson and his company, and denounced their effort to establish 
Transylvania as a government independent of Virginia. The peti- 
tioners disputed the validity of the purchase made by Henderson and 
his associates from the Cherokees. They declared that they recog- 
nized the fact that the lands they occupied belonged to Virginia 
territory, and that they were justly entitled to enjoy the privileges 
and contribute to the support and defence of the State Government. 

Upon arrival at Williamsburg, Clark found that the Legislature 
had adjourned; and he laid the petition of his constituents before 
Governor Henry and the Privy Council. He requested the council to 
furnish the Kentuckians five hundred pounds of powder to be used 
for protecting the border against the Indians. At first, the council 
declined to supply the powder, but later granted the request. 

When the General Assembly convened in October, Clark and his 
colleague. Captain John Gabriel Jones, were present and asked to be 
seated, and presented the petition of the Kentucky settlers to the 



362 History of Tazewell County 

Assembly. Clark and his colleague were very properly denied the 
privilege or right to sit as members of the body, but the petition was 
received and referred to the proper committee. At the same time the 
following resolution was adopted: 

"Resolved, That the inhabitants of the western part of Fincastle 
not being allowed bj' the law a distinct representation in the General 
Assembly, the delegates chosen to represent them in this House 
cannot be admitted. At the same time, the committee are of opinion, 
that the said inhabitants ought to be formed into a distinct county, 
in order to entitle them to such representation, and other benefits of 
government." 

In the meantime the inhabitants of the Clinch, Holston and 
New River valleys, having heard of the plans of the Kentuckians to 
procure for themselves a separate county, prepared and forwarded 
petitions to the General Assembly, praying that the territory of 
Fincastle County east of Kentucky be divided into two distinct coun- 
ties. The petitions of the Holston, New River, and Clinch settlers 
were presented along with that sent from Kentucky. Henderson, as 
the representative of the bogus Transylvania government, attended 
the session of the General Assembly, and vigorously opposed the 
formation of Kentucky into a new county. And, from circumstances 
connected with the legislation, it may be presumed that there was 
opposition on the part of leading citizens of the New River Valley 
to the division into two counties of that portion of Fincastle situated 
east of Kentucky. The men of the New River and Reed Creek set- 
tlements had previously held and received the emoluments of the 
most desirable county offices, and in fact had dominated the affairs 
of the county. Finally, opposition of every kind was overcome, and 
on the 7th day of December, 1776, the General Assembly passed an 
act which provided for the division of Fincastle County into three 
distinct counties. In part, the act is as follows: 

"Whereas, from the great extent of the county of Fincastle, many 
inconveniences attend the more distant inhabitants thereof, on 
account of their remote situation from the court house of the said 
county, and many of the said inhabitants have petitioned this present 
general assembly for a division of the same: 

"Be it therefore enacted hij the General Assenibli/ of the Com- 
monwealth of Virginia, and it is hereby enacted hy the authority of 



and Southwest Virginia 363 

the same. That from and after the last day of December next 
ensuing the said county of Fincastle shall be divided into three coun- 
ties, that is to say: All that part thereof which lies to the south 
and westward of a line beginning on the Ohio at the mouth of Great 
Sandy creek, and running up the same and the main or north easterly 
branch thereof to the Great Laurel Ridge or Cumberland Mountain, 
thence south westerly along the said mountain to the line of North 
Carolina, shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the 
name of Kentucky; and all that part of the said county of Fincastle 
included in the lines beginning at the Cumberland Mountain, where 
the line of Kentucky county intersects the North Carolina line, 
thence east along the said North Carolina line to the top of Iron 
Mountain, thence along the same easterly to the source of the south- 
fork of Holstein river, thence northwardly along the highest part of 
the high lands, ridges, and mountains, that divide the waters of the 
Tennessee from those of the Great Kanawha to the most easterly 
source of Clinch river, thence westwardly along the top of the moun- 
tains that divide the waters of Clinch river from those of the Great 
Kanawha and Sandy creek to the line of Kentuckj' county, thence 
along the same to the beginning, shall be one other distinct county, 
and called and known by the name of Washington; and all the 
residue of the said county of Fincastle shall be one other distinct 
county, and shall be called and known by the name of Montgomery." 

The act also provided that a court composed of justices should 
be held in each of the counties as follows : Kentucky, at Harrods- 
burg, on the first Tuesday in every month: Washington, at Black's 
fort (now Abingdon), the last Tuesday in every month: Mont- 
gomery, at Fort Chiswell, the first Tuesday in every month." 

The act also provided a suffrage qualification for tlie citizens of 
the three counties as follows : 

"And he it further enacted. That every free white man who. at 
the time of elections of delegates or senators for the said several 
counties, shall have been for one year preceding in possession of 
twenty five acres of land with a house and plantation thereon, or 
one hundred acres without a house and plantation, in any of the said 
counties, and having right to an estate for life at least in the said 
land in his own right, or in right of his wife, shall have a vote, or be 
capable of being chosen a representative in the county where his 



364 History of Tazewell County 

said land shall lie, although no legal title in the same shall have been 
conveyed to such possessers; and that in all future elections of 
senators, the said counties of Montgomery, Washington, and Ken- 
tucky, together with the county of Botetourt, shall form and be one 
district." 

At the time this act was passed there had been no separa- 
tion of the Church and State in Virginia. Hence the act provided 
for dividing the parish of Botetourt, which embraced all the terri- 
tory in the then county of Botetourt and the three new counties, into 
four parishes, to be called, respectively, Montgomery parish, Ken- 
tucky parish, Washington parish, and Botetourt parish. 

Thomas Jefferson was chairman of the committee to which the 
bill creating the new counties was referred. He was then recog- 
nized as the greatest advocate and exponent of the principles of 
popular government living in Virginia, as he was later to be acknowl- 
edged the greatest in America. No doubt, he was responsible for 
the peculiar suffrage qualifications imposed upon the men who were 
to be voters in the counties of Kentucky, Washington and Mont- 
gomery. The evident purpose of Mr. Jefferson and his associates 
was to extend to every free white citizen in these counties the right 
of suffrage. And the imposition of the freeholder's qualification was 
merely the application and interpretation of that part of the Vir- 
ginia Bill of Rights which says: "that all men, having sufficient evi- 
dence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to the 
community, have the right of suffrage." 

The line, as established by the act, between the counties of 
Washington and Montgomery was so uncertain as to location that 
it was found necessary to have it more clearly defined. In the month 
of May, 1777, the General Assembly amended the act of 1776, 
changing the line between Washington and Montgomery as follows: 

"Beginning at a ford on Holston river, next above Captain John 
Campbell's, at the Royal Oak, and running from thence a due south 
course to the dividing line between the states of Virginia and North 
Carolina ; and from the ford aforesaid to the westerly end of Morris' 
Knob, about three miles above Maiden Spring on Clinch, and from 
thence, by a line to be drawn due north, until it shall intersect the 
waters of the great Sandy river." 



and Southwest Virginia 365 

The line as located by the original act ran through the present 
Tazewell County about six miles east of the town of Tazewell, plac- 
ing the greater portion of the present Tazewell County in Washing- 
ton County. By the act of May, 1777, the line was located about 
six miles west of the town, and the larger part of the territory was 
in Montgomery. In other words, all the country west of the line 
which ran by Morris' Knob was in Washington, while all east of that 
line was in Montgomery. 

Even after the new line was created by the General Assembly, 
frequent disputes arose between citizens of Washington and Mont- 
gomery as to the true location of the line. In the spring of 1782, the 
county courts of the respective counties selected Hugh Fulton to run 
the line. Fulton performed the work promptly and made a report 
thereof on the 6th of May, 1782, and the report was confirmed by 
the courts of the two counties. The courses, distances, and so forth, 
given in the report, are as follows : 

"Beginning at a white walnut and buckeye at the ford of Hol- 
ston next above the Royal Oak, and runneth thence — N. 31 W. 
over Brushy mountain, one creek, Walker's mountain, north fork of 
Holston, Locust cove. Little mountain. Poor Valley creek. Clinch 
mountain, and the south fork of Clinch to a double and single sugar 
tree and two buckeye saplings on Bare grass hill, the west end of 
Morris' Knob, fifteen miles and three quarters. Thence from said 
knob north crossing the spurs of the same, and Paint Lick mountain 
the north fork of Clinch by John Hines' plantation, and over the 
river ridge by James Roark's in the Baptist Valley, to a sugar tree 
and two white oaks on the head of Sandy five miles, one quarter — 
twenty poles. 

"The beginning at said walnut and buckeye above the Royal Oak, 
and running south, crossing the middle fork of Holston, Campbell's 
mill creek, three mountains, the south fork of Holston above Jones' 
mill, his mill creek, four mountains, Fox creek to six white pines on 
the top of Iron mountain by a laurel thicket, eleven miles, three 
quarters and sixty poles. 

"The distance of said line from the head of Sandy to the top 
of the Iron mountain is thirty three miles. 

Executed and returned, May the 6th, 1783. , 

Hugh Fulton." 



366 History of Tazewell County 

When the Revolutionary War broke out the pioneer settlers of 
Clinch Valley were in such a perilous situation, on account of the 
threatened Indian invasions, that they could give no immediate sub- 
stantial aid to the colonists of the East and South who were resisting 
the British armies. All the vital energy of the sturdy men of the 
Clinch had to be conserved and used for the protection of their own 
settlements. In the previous war, that of 1774, they had to prac- 
tically take care of themselves ; and they would have been compelled 
to endure many subsequent outrages from the Indians, if it had not 
been for the crushing defeat they helped to give the savages at 
Point Pleasant. 

The Indians had been previously the only foes encountered bj' 
the Tazewell pioneers. In the great struggle for American freedom, 
begun in 1776, our ancestors had to grapple with the blood-thirsty 
savages led by the agents and officers of the British Government, 
the government for which the Virginians had fought so nobly in 
former wars. Not a man, however, who was living in the Upper 
Clinch Valley faltered in devotion to the cause of American freedom. 
There were some of the settlers who regretted to see the ties that 
bound them to kindred and the mother country rudely broken, but 
there were no Tories here. The Scotch-Irish, the German Hugue- 
nots, and the Englishmen who had come here from Pennsylvania, 
Maryland and Eastern Virginia had rapidly commingled and devel- 
oped into true Americans. 

Our ancestors were so busily occupied with their home-making 
pursuits that they neglected to make any written record of their 
performances in the Revolution. They were extending their clear- 
ings into the depths of the forests, were enlarging and making their 
houses stronger, wei-e building new forts, and block-houses, and get- 
ting ready to repel apprehended attacks from the Indians. We 
are almost entirely dependent upon tradition for knowledge of what 
transpired in the Clinch Valley during the progress of the Revolu- 
tion. Dr. Bickley was fortunate enough to write history at a date 
when a few of the sons and a number of the grandsons of the 
pioneers were still living. From these he gathered a minimum of 
valuable information, and, possibly, miglit have obtained much more, 
but for undue haste in collecting the data and writing his book. 
Writing of this intensely interesting period, Bickley says : 



and Southwest Virginia 367 

"Previous to 1776, the settlers were engaged in erecting suitable 
houses to protect their families from the inclemencies of the weather, 
as well as to render them more secure from the attacks of the 
Indians. Their lands had to be opened, and, consequently, they 
were much in the forest. As there was an abundance of game, and 
few domestic animals, their meat was taken mostly from tile forest ; 
this likewise took them from home. They were few, and to raise a 
house, or roll the logs from a field, required the major part of a 
settlement. This likewise left their families exposed; yet such work 
was usually executed during the winter months, when the Indians 
did not visit the settlements. To give further protection to the 
families of the settlers, in every neighborhood block-houses were, 
as soon as convenient, erected, to which the families could repair 
in time of necessity. 

'.'After 1776, forts and stations were built, as it became neces- 
sary for many of the settlers to join the army. In these forts, and 
particularly at the stations, a few men were left to defend them. 
But the extent of country to be defended was so great, and the 
stations so few, that there was, in reality, but little safety afforde^T 
to the families of the settlers. 

"De Hass has given correct descriptions of block-houses, forts, 
and stations, to which I beg to refer the reader. There was a fort 
erected by William Wynn, a strict old Quaker, and one of the best 
of men, on Wynn's branch; another at Crab orchard, by Thomas 
Witten, and one at Maiden Spring, by Rees Bowen — two men whose 
names will be cherished in the memories of the people of Tazewell 
for ages to come. 

"There was a station on Linking Shear branch, containing a few 
men under the command of Capt. John Preston, of Montgomery ; 
another on Bluestone creek, in command of Capt. Robert Crockett 
of Wythe county, and another at the present site of White Sulphur 
springs, in command Capt. James Taylor of Montgomery. It is 
also said, that there was a station in Burk's Garden ; I imagine, how- 
ever, that it was not constructed by order of the Government. 

"The following persons, citizens of the county, were posted in 
these forts and stations, viz : 

H Bailey, John Burgess, Edward 

S Bailey, James Belcher, Robert 

B Belcher, Joseph Brewster, Thomas 



368 History of Tazewell County 

Chaffin, Christopher Maxwell^ John 

Connely, James Maxwell^ Thomas 

Crockett^ John Marrs ? 

Cottrell;, John Peery, James 

Evans, John, Sr. Pruett, John 

Evans, John, Jr. Thompson, Archibald 

Gilbert, Joseph Witten, James 

Godfrey, Absalom Wynn, Oliver 

Hall, William *• Wright, Michael 

Lusk, David Ward, John 
Lusk, Samuel " Ward, William 

Lusley, Robert ^ Wright, Hezekiah 
Martin, James 

"These men were to hold themselves in readiness to act as cir- 
cumstances might demand. To make them more efficient, spies were 
employed to hang upon the great trails leading into the settlements 
from the Ohio. Upon discovering the least sign of Indians, they 
hurried into the settlements and warned the people to hasten to the 
forts or stations, as the case might be. They received extra wages 
for their services, for they were both laborious and important, and 
also fraught with danger. For such an office the vei'y best men were 
chosen; for it will be readily seen, that a single faithless spy, might 
have permitted the Indians to pass unobserved, and committed much 
havoc among the people, before they could have prepared for 
defense. But it does not appear that any "spy" failed to give the 
alarm when possible to do so. They always went two together, and 
frequently remained out several weeks upon a scout. Great caution 
was necessary to prevent the Indians from discovering them, hence 
their beds were usually of leaves, in some thicket commanding a view 
of the war-path. Wet or dry, day or night, these men were ever 
on the lookout. The following persons were chosen from tlie pre- 
ceding list, to act as spies, viz : 

Burgess, Edward Maxwell, John 

Bailey, James Martin, James 

Bailey, John Wynn, Oliver 

Crockett, John Witten, James 

"The last of whom, was one of the most sagacious and successful 
spies to be found anywhere on tlie frontier. His name is yet as 



and Southwest Virginia 369 

familiar with the people, as if he had lived and occupied a place 
among them but a day ago. 

"Such as were too old to bear arms in the government service, 
usually guarded the women, children, and slaves, while cultivating 
the farms. Tazewell had but a small population at this time, yet 
from the number engaged in the regular service, we should be led 
to think otherwise. 

"It is a little strange that the frontiers should have furnished so 
many men for the army, when their absence so greatly exposed their 
families. But when we reflect that no people felt the horrors of war 
more sensibly than they did, and that no people are readier to serve 
the country in the day when aid is needed, than those of mountainous 
regions, we shall at once have an explanation to their desire, and 
consequent assistance, in bringing the war to a close. Beside, the 
people of Tazewell have ever been foremost in defending the coun- 
try; showing at once that determination to be free, which so emi- 
nently characterizes the people of mountainous districts." 



T.H.— 24 



370 History of Tazewell County 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Clark's expedition to Illinois, and battle of king's mountain. 

Another event of great moment to the pioneer settlers of Taze- 
well occurred in 1778. It was the invasion and conquering of the 
Illinois country by George Rodgers Clark with his small but intrepid 
army of Virginia frontiersmen. As hereinbefore related Clark had 
settled in Kentucky, and was one of the two delegates elected to 
represent that country in the Virginia General Assembly before it 
was erected into a county. After his return to Kentucky from Wil- 
liamsburg in 1777 he rendered valuable assistance to Boone, Harrod, 
Floyd, Logan, and the other settlers in their bloody struggles with 
the large Indian bands sent by Hamilton to drive the Virginians 
from Kentucky. Clark realized that the Kentuckians and other bor- 
der settlers of Virginia would have no rest or safety until the North- 
western Indians were subdued and the British garrisons in that 
region were captured or driven out. The country beyond the Ohio 
was occupied by numerous large and warlike tribes ; and there were 
a number of military posts that had been taken from France at the 
conclusion of the French and Indian War and were still held by the 
soldiers of Great Britain. From these posts the British com- 
manders were continually equipping and sending out Indian bands 
to attack, kill, and scalp the settlers in Kentucky and the other 
border settlements of Virginia. 

Clark concluded that it was feasible to make a secret invasion of 
the country with a small armed force and capture the territory which 
he knew belonged to Virginia. Early in the summer of 1777 he sent 
two daring young men as spies to Illinois and the country about 
Vincennes, without revealing to them his purposes, but to find out 
existing conditions there. The report which the spies brought back 
was to the effect, that the French population in the villages where 
the British had their military posts were not devoted to the cause of 
England, and were taking no interest in the struggle between Great 
Britain and the American colonies. This report confirmed Clark in 
his belief that the Illinois country could be wrested from the British 
by a small army of resolute border men under his command; and 
he determined to submit his plans to Governor Henry and seek his 



and Southwest Virginia 371 

official support in the undertaking. To this end, on October 1st, 
1777, Clark started from Harrodsburg to Williamsburg. He was 
engaged for more than a month in making the j ourney to the capital, 
where he promptly made known his plans to Patrick Henry, who 
finally gave Clark authority to raise seven companies of fifty men 
each, to serve as militia, and to be gathered from the coimties west 
of the Blue Ridge. The governor advanced him twelve hundred 
pounds to pay the expenses of the expedition, and gave him an order 
to the authorities at Pittsburg to furnish him adequate supplies and 
ammunition, and boats to transport them, and such men as he might 
enlist in that vicinity, down the Ohio. Thomas Jefferson, George 
Mason, and George Wythe, whom Clark met at Williamsburg, 
pledged themselves in writing to use their influence with the Vir'- 
ginia General Assembly to grant each man who went with the 
expedition three hundred acres of land in the conquered territory. 
Two letters of instructions, one open, and the other sealed, were 
given Clark by Governor Henry. The open letter ordered Clark to 
use his forces to relieve the Kentucky settlers from the distress they 
were in on account of the frequent attacks made upon them by the 
Indians. And the sealed, or secret letter, directed him to invade 
and conquer the Illinois country that was controlled by the British. 
The men who were then living with their families in the frontier 
counties were so much engrossed with their home and community 
affairs that they were loth to engage in an enterprise that would 
take them far from their homes for a long period. Consequently, 
much trouble was experienced by Clark when he tried to obtain the 
quota of men he had authoritj'^ to enlist for the expedition; but he 
succeeded in enlisting about one hundred and fifty men in the coun- 
try about Pittsburg, and determined to start with these to the scene 
of proposed action. In May, 1778, he started from the Redstone 
settlements with his soldiers and a number of adventurers and men 
with families who wanted to settle in Kentucky. They used as trans- 
ports a flotilla of flatboats, and rowed and drifted down the Ohio 
to the mouth of the Kentucky. From that point the expeditionary 
force floated down stream to the Falls of the Ohio, arriving at that 
place the 27th of May. There the emigrants separated from Clark 
and his men, and went off to the interior settlements of Kentucky. 
A considerable number of the Kentucky settlers, and a small com- 
pany of men from the Holston and Clinch settlements joined Clark 



372 History of Tazewell County 

at the Falls. By previous arrangement four companies from the 
Clinch and Holston were to go with the expedition; but only one 
company, under command of Captain John Montgomery, arrived 
and reported for service. At the Falls, Clark for the first time 
revealed to his men the real object of his expedition. Those who 
had accompanied him down the Ohio, and the Ketuckians, readily 
agreed to take part in the hazardous adventure; but most of the 
men from the Holston and Clinch settlements refused to go on the 
dangerous and necessarily laborious campaign. They left the camp 
in the night time and started to return to their homes. Though 
Clark had misled these men, who had gone from Washington County, 
as to his real objective, he was infuriated by what he considered 
a desertion; and sent the Kentuckians who had horses in pursuit 
of the men who had started for their homes, directing the pursuers 
to kill all who refused to return to the camp. Only a few, however, 
were overtaken and they returned and went with the expedition. 
As they passed through the Kentucky settlements on their homeward 
journey, the men from the Clinch and Holston were treated very 
rudely and cruelly by the Kentuckians. This was very unjust as 
they had been deceived as to the nature of the expedition, and were 
justified in refusing to engage in an enterprise they had not enlisted 
for — one that would take them so far from their homes and families 
for a long time. A small number of men who went from the terri- 
tory wliich now composes Tazewell County accompanied Clark on 
his expedition, and were with him when he captured Kaskaskia and 
Vincennes. Those who were known to have gone from Tazewell, 
were: William Peery, Low Brown, John Lasly, and Solomon Strat- 
ton. To this extent the pioneers of Tazewell participated in the 
splendid achievements of George Rodgers Clark, who drove the 
British from the Northwestern territory and put Virginia in posses- 
sion of the vast domain which was afterwards generously ceded by 
our State to the United States. 

On the 24th of June the expeditionary forces went aboard their 
flatboats at the Falls and continued their voyage down the Ohio; 
and upon arrival at a small island near the mouth of the Tennessee 
River went into camp on the island. Shortly after their arrival they 
were joined by a small party of American hunters who were return- 
ing from a hunting trip in the Illinois country. The hunters gave 
Clark valuable information about the defensive conditions of the 



and Southwest Virginia 373 

forts at Kaskaskia and Vincennes^ and the sentiment of the French 
and Creole inhabitants of the various towns about the British posts. 
As they were of an adventurous disposition and in sympathy with 
the revolting American colonists, the hunters gladly accepted 
Clark's request to accompany him on the campaign. Clark's army 
of about two hundred men left the island, and made a rapid overland 
march to Kaskaskia, where, on the 4th, of July, a surprise night 
attack was made upon the British garrison. The fort and village 
were captured without the loss of a man by the Virginians. Cha- 
hokia and Vincennes in due time were also surrendered to Clark, and 
the French and creole inhabitants promptly took the oath of allegi- 
ance to the United States. 

Hamilton was then at Detroit, and was gathering together and 
equipping large numbers of Indians for other attacks upon the 
border settlements ; but the successful invasion of Illinois by the 
Virginians forced the beastly British officer to abandon his mur- 
derous schemes. He was astounded by the daring, and successful 
venture of Clark and his wonderful small army of fighting back- 
woodsmen; and began immediately to make preparation for recap- 
turing Vincennes, and expelling the Virginians from Illinois. For 
this enterprise he organized a force, which was composed of one 
hundred and seventy-seven white men and sixty Indians. With an 
ample supply of arms, ammunition, and other supplies, Hamilton 
started with his expedition to Vincennes, and reached that place 
on the 17th of December. Captain Leonard Helm was in com- 
mand of the fort and his garrison was made up of two or three 
Americans and a number of creole militia. At the approach of the 
British the treacherous Creoles deserted, leaving Helm with no sup- 
port but the few faithful Americans, and he was compelled to sur- 
render the fort. 

Francis Vigo, a trader from St. Louis and an Italian by birth, 
had been imprisoned and cruelly treated by Hamilton while Vigo 
was on a visit to Vincennes. When he was released he returned to 
St. Louis, and as quickly as possible went to Kaskaskia and gave 
Clark such information as caused him to take immediate steps for 
marching against Vincennes. It was midwinter, and it seemed 
impossible for men to march on foot nearly two hundred and fifty 
miles through an uninhabited region, where a great part of the 
ground was lowlands and at the time was flooded by heavy freshets. 



374 History of Tazewell County 

But the fearless Clark determined to surmount all difficulties and 
forestall Hamilton's proposed campaign in the spring. On the 7th 
of February, 1779, Clark began his march to Vincennes with one 
hundred and seventj^ men, part of whom were j'oung French Creoles 
who had remained faithful to the American cause. Clark's march 
to Vincennes has been related both in history and romance as one 
of the marvels of the military world. 

Clark came in sight of his desired goal on the afternoon of tne 
23rd, of February, having made the march of two hundred and forty 
miles in sixteen days. He sent a messenger, a creole whom he had 
captured, to notify the French inhabitants, and also Hamilton, that 
he was going to attack the place. The people who were friendly 
to the Americans were requested to remain in their houses where 
they would be in no danger; and the friends of the British were told 
to join Hamilton in the fort "and fight like men." At sundown he 
marched against the town and at seven o'clock entered its limits. 
During the night he had his men throw up intrenchments within 
rifle-shot distance of the fort. At sunrise on the 24th his riflemen 
began to pour a well directed fire into the loop-holes, and the two 
small cannon the British were using were soon silenced by the keen- 
eyed Virginia marksmen. Before noon, Clark demanded a surrender 
of Llie fort, but Hamilton haughtily refused to yield. In the after- 
noon a flag of truce was sent out witli the request for an interview 
between Hamilton and Clark, which resulted in the surrender of the 
garrison of seventy-one men. Clark and his men hated Hamilton 
intensely, and spoke of him as the "hair-buyer general," alluding 
to his payments of large sums to Indians for the scalps they brought 
in from the border settlements. When Clark assailed him for his 
brutal acts, he tried to escape responsibility by saying that he had 
merely executed the orders of his superior officers who had acted 
under ordei-s given them by the British Government. Soon after 
Vincennes was captured sufficient reinforcements arrived from Vir- 
ginia to enable Clark to establish permanent garrisons at Vincennes, 
Kaskaskia, and Chahokia. He made the Indians sue for peace, or 
drove them from the country ; and the Revolution came to an end 
without the British being able to regain control of the Northwestern 
territory. 

The permanent settlement of Kentucky had been of great value 
to the Clinch Valley settlements by attracting the attention of the 



and Southwest Virginia 375 

hostile Indians away from this region. Clark's occupation of the 
Illinois country was in the same way very serviceable to the pioneers. 
It prevented any further incursions of the Clinch region by the 
savages until the Revolution was ended. 

BATTLE OF KINg's MOUNTAIN. 

The Battle of King's Mountain was an event of far-reaching 
importance to the cause of American Independence. It was the 
privilege of a gallant band of the Tazewll pioneers to participate 
and render valiant service in that memorable engagement^ which is 
generally conceded to have turned the tide in favor of the American 
patriots in their prolonged, struggle for freedom from British oppres- 
sion. 

Major Patrick Ferguson, a Scottish soldier of distinguished 
lineage, and who won unenviable distinction by many cruel deeds in 
the British campaigns in New York, had, for a year previous to his 
defeat and death at King's Mountain, been terrorizing the patriots 
of the Carolinas. He had first gone to the Carolinas with General 
Henry Clinton, when Clinton made his expedition against Charleston 
at the close of the year 1779. At that time Ferguson held the title 
of major in the British army; but just previous to his death he had 
been promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, having won the 
favor of his superior officers by organizing the Tories and using them 
effectively against the Americans. After the capture of Charleston, 
Sir Henry Clinton began at once to form plans for the complete 
subjugation of the Carolinas; and he concluded to use for this 
accomplishment a large Tory element that he knew was to be found 
in the two Carolinas. For the execution of his designs he selected 
Major Patrick Ferguson and Major George Hanger, both of whom 
were intolerant of what they termed disloyalty to the King; and 
these kindred wicked spirits had already in numerous instances 
shown a disposition to subject American citizens to inhuman treat- 
ment. 

The two British officers were clothed with both civil and military 
authority, and were directed to organize local civil governments as 
well as subjugate the rebels. They proceeded to organize the Tories 
into militia companies and regiments ; and these were sent out on 
predatory excursions, greatly to the damage and discomfort of the 
patriotic Americans. The barbarities inflicted upon the patriots, 



376 History of Tazewell County 

who refused to renew their allegiance to the British Government, 
attracted the attention and sympathy of the inhabitants of the 
Watauga and Holston settlements, known as the "overi-mountain 
region/' then a part of North Carolina, but now known as East 
Tennessee. Colonel John Sevier, who lived on the Watauga, and 
Colonel Isaac Shelby, residing on the Holston, received urgent calls 
for assistance from their fellow-patriots who lived in what is now 
Western North Carolina. Colonel Sevier dispatched a part of his 
regiment of militia under command of Major Charles Robertson to 
the assistance of Colonel Joseph McDowell, who with a small force 
was contending against the large number of Tories that had flocked 
to Ferguson's standard. A few days after Robertson started Colonel 
Shelby followed with two hundred mounted riflemen, and joined 
McDowell near the Cherokee ford of Broad River about the 25th 
of July, 1780. Robertson and Shelby co-operated with McDowell 
and other of the Carolinians through the month of August, and 
participated in the engagement at Cedar Spring on the 24th of that 
month. The Tories and the Liberty men both claim to have gotten 
the better of the fight; but, from the accounts given by the respective 
sides engaged, it was a victory for neither. Shelby and Robertson, 
with their commands, were in the engagement that followed soon 
after at Musgrove's Mill, where the mountaineer Americans won a 
glorious victory. The British loss in the battle was sixty-three 
killed, about ninety wounded, and seventy prisoners. The American 
casualty list showed only four killed and nine wounded. The term 
of service of their men being completed, Colonel Shelby and Major 
Robertson, with their volunteers from the Watauga and Holston, 
returned to their homes beyond the Alleghanies. 

In a very short while after he returned to his home on the Hol- 
ston, Colonel Shelby received a message which constrained him to 
return to that section of North Carolina where he had so recently 
been fighting the Tory followers of Ferguson. The men from the 
Watauga and Holston had greatly enraged Ferguson by the part 
they had played in the recent campaign; and he resolved to make 
them cease their activities against his forces or treat them as traitors 
to the British Crown. A man by the name of Samuel Phillips, who 
belonged to Shelby's command, and who had been so severely 
wounded in the battle at Musgrove's Mill that he had to be left at 
Musgrove's home, had been made a prisoner by Ferguson's men. 



and Southwest Virginia 377 

After his recovery, Phillips was sent across the mountains to tell 
Shelby and the other officers of the Watauga and Holston valleys, 
that "if they did not desist from their opposition to the British arms, 
he (Ferguson) would march his army over the mountains, hang their 
leaders, and lay their country waste with fire and sword." 

Shelby, who was the first to receive the message from Ferguson, 
sent by Phillips, went immediately to Jonesboro and communicated 
it to Colonel Sevier. These two fearless men decided to raise as 
speedily as possible an army of riflemen, and to cross the mountains 
and make an attack upon Ferguson before he started to execute his 
presumptions threat. At that time Colonel Charles McDowell and 
Colonel Andrew Hampton were camping at Colonel John Carter's 
in the Watauga Valley. They had been forced to retire before Fei'- 
guson's large forces of Tories in the Upper Catawba Valley, and 
cross the mountains for safety. Sevier undertook to enlist the sup- 
port of McDowell and Hampton and their men for the enterprise, 
and Shelby engaged to procure the co-operation of Colonel William 
Campbell, of Washington County, Virginia. 

While Shelby was engaged in collecting his own regiment of 
Sullivan County men, he wrote a letter to Colonel William Campbell, 
then living at Aspinvale, now Seven Mile Ford, in Smyth County, 
Virginia, and requested him to raise as large body of men as he could, 
and to unite with him and Sevier in the contemplated movement 
against Ferguson. For several weeks prior to the receipt of Shelby's 
letter Colonel Campbell had been actively occupied with a hundred 
and fifty men in suppressing a movement of the Tories to seize and 
destroy the works and stores at the Lead Mines, situated at the point 
where the county seat of Fincastle had been located, now in Wythe 
County. Large quantities of lead were then being mined and smelted 
at that place for the use of the American armies, and the British 
authorities were exceedingly anxious to have the plant destroyed. 
Two hundred Tories of the New River region embraced within the 
present Grayson and Carroll counties, Virginia, and the present 
Alleghany and Surry counties. North Carolina, had been collected 
to execute the plans of the British against the Lead Mines. They 
were well equipped with arms and ammunition, and were commanded 
by regularly commissioned British officers. The agents of Great 
Britain were also trjang to get the Cherokee Indians to make an 
invasion of the Watauga and Holston settlements in conjunction 



378 History of Tazewell County 

with the British attack upon the Lead Mines. Campbell crossed the 
mountains with his Washington County militia in the month of 
August and found a large band of the Tories at a place then known 
as the Big Glades, or Round Meadows, in North Carolina and near 
the line of Carroll County, Virginia. Upon the approach of Campbell 
and his men the Tories fled and dispersed so rapidly that only one 
of their number was killed by the men from the Holston. Because 
of the Tory risings, and for other, possibly personal, reasons, Camp- 
bell refused to join Shelby and Sevier in the proposed expedition. 

On account of the threatened invasion of the Watauga and Hol- 
ston settlements by the Cherokees, both Sevier and Shelby were 
reluctant to take all of their men for service against Ferguson. 
This induced Shelby to send a second urgent written appeal to 
Colonel William Campbell, in which he informed him of the unhappy 
situation in which he and Sevier were placed. Shelby also wrote to 
Colonel Arthur Campbell, who was then county lieutenant for 
Washington County. He told him of the violent threat made by 
Ferguson, and also gave him information about McDowell's and 
Hampton's party, who had been driven from their homes and fami- 
lies by the Tories. This last appeal had the desired results ; and 
both of the Campbells announced their willingness to assist in the 
expedition. Arthur Campbell afterwards said: "The tale of 
McDowell's men Avas a doleful one, and tended to excite the resent- 
ment of the people, who of late had become inured to danger by 
fighting the Indians, and who had an utter detestation of the tyranny 
of the British Government." 

A conference of the field officers of Washington County was 
held; and it was agreed that one-half of the militia of the county 
should be called out and mobilized at Wolf Creek, just west of the 
present town of Abingdon. They were to march from that point 
and join the forces of Shelby and Sevier at a designated place, and 
to go with them on the expedition against Ferguson. Colonel Arthur 
Campbell, in his capacity of county lieutenant, issued a call for the 
enrollment of companies from the several sections of the county. 
Responding to this call, a company of mounted riflemen was organ- " 
ized in that part of Clinch Valley within the present limits of Taze- 
well. The county court of Washington had, on the 20th of February, 
1777, recommended William Bowen for a captain of militia on the 
Clinch ; and he had been duly commissioned as such. He was 



and Southwest Virginia . 379 

placed in command of the company of mounted riflemen, and his 
brother, Rees Bowen, was made lieutenant. When the time arrived 
for assembling at Wolf Creek, William Bowen was very sick from 
typhoid fever ; and the company had to march with Lieutenant Rees 
Bowen in command. Unfortunately no roll of the company has 
been preserved; and, therefore, it is impossible to give the names of 
all the men from Tazewell who were in the engagement at King's 
Mountain. Tradition and imperfect records show that David Ward, 
Thomas Maxwell, James Laird, Thomas Witten, Jr., John Skeggs, 
and John and Thomas Peery, father and son, were members of the 
company that went from Tazewell and joined Campbell at Wolf 
Creek. 

Two hundred men started on the 22nd of September, 1780, from 
Wolf Creek ; and on the 26th reached the jDlace of assembly at Syca- 
more Shoals, at the foot of Yellow Mountain, on the Watauga, three 
miles below the present town of Elizabethton, Tennessee. Shelby 
and Sevier were there, according to appointment, each with a regi- 
ment of two hundred and forty men; and eagerly awaiting the 
arrival of Campbell and his riflemen. McDowell had been at the 
camp with his men, but had joyfully gone in advance across the 
mountains to announce to his people the coming of their compatriots 
from the Watauga, Holston and Clinch settlements. On the 26th., 
just as the army was getting ready to take up its march. Colonel 
Arthur Campell arrived with two hundred more Washington County 
men. This substantial reinforcement gave great cheer to the men 
who had previously assembled. Soon after the arrival of the rein- 
forcements, the gallant little army broke camp and started out on 
what proved to be a victorious expedition against the insolent Fer- 
guson and his Tory forces. Lyman C. Draper, in his "Kings Moun- 
tain And Its Heroes," thus speaks of the equipment of the forces 
of Campbell, Shelby, and Sevier: 

"Mostly armed with the Deckard rifle, in the use of which they 
were expert alike against the Indians and beasts of the forest, they 
regarded themselves the equals of Ferguson and his practiced rifle- 
men and musketeers. They were little encumbered with baggage- 
each with a blanket, a cup by his side, with which to quench his 
thirst from the mountain streams, and a wallet of provisions, the 
latter principally parched corn meal, mixed, as it generally was. 



380 History of Tazewell County 

with maple sugar, making a very agreeable repast,, and withal full of 
nourishment. An occasional skillet was taken along for a mess, in 
which to warm up in water their parched meal, and cook such wild 
or other meat as fortune should throw in their way. The horses, of 
course, had to pick their living, and were hobbled out of nights, 
to keep them from straying away. A few beeves were driven along 
the rear for subsistence, but impeding the rapidity of the march, 
they were abandoned after the first day's journey." 

Roosevelt, who made careful investigation of all records and all 
the early historians who wrote about the battle of King's Mountain, 
in his "Winning of the West," says of these soldiers: 

"Their fringed and tasseled hunting shirts were girded in by 
bead-worked belts, and the trappings of their horses were stained 
red and yellow. On their heads they wore caps of coon-skin or 
minkrskin, with the tails hanging down, or else felt hats, in each of 
which was thrust a buck's tail or a sprig of evergreen. Every man 
carried a small bore rifle, a tomahawk and a scalping knife. A very 
few of the officers had swords, and there was not a bayonet nor a 
tent in the army." 

The march across the Alleghany and Blue Ridge ranges was 
accomplished without much difficulty. No enemy except a few 
bushwhacking Tories were encountered. Lieutenant Larkin Cleve- 
land, who was leading the advance, was sliot and severely wounded 
from ambush while crossing the Catawba on the 30th of September. 
Sunday, October the 1st, the army arrived at Quaker Meadows; 
and on Monday, the 2nd, Colonel William Campbell was selected by 
the corps commanders as commanding officer until a general officer 
should arrive from headquarters. The expedition was then within 
sixteen or eighteen miles of Gilbert Town, where Ferguson was sup- 
posed to be camping with his army; and Colonel Campbell resolved 
to hunt down and strike the enemy immediately. 

In the meantime, Ferguson had been making plundering expedi- 
tions with his Tory marauders in the Upper Catawba Valley, rob- 
bing and terrorizing the American patriots. On the 30th of Sep- 
tember he was encamped at Gilbert Town, when Crawford and 
Chambers, who had deserted from Shelby's command while they 
were camping on the top of Yellow Mountain, arrived at Ferguson's 
camp. These traitors warned the British commander of the 



and Southwest Virginia 381 

approach of the "Back Water men/' a name which Ferguson had 
given them. The boastful Scotchman was greatly alarmed when 
he heard of the coming of the men whom he had threatened to hang, 
and whose homes he had declared he would devastate with fire and 
sword. On the 1st of October, Ferguson marched his force to 
Denard's Ford, about eight miles from Gilbert Town, and addressed 
the following scurrilous and libellous appeal to the Tories of North 
and South Carolina: 

"Denard's Ford, Broad River, 
"Try on County, October 1, 1780. 
"Gentlemen: — Unless you wish to be eat up by an inundation of 
barbarians, who have begun by murdering an unarmed son before the 
aged father, and afterwards lopped off his arms, and who by their 
shocking cruelties and irregularities, give the best proof of their 
cowardice and want of discipline ; I say, if you wish to be pinioned, 
robbed, and murdered, and see your wives and daughters, in four 
days, abused by the dregs of mankind — in short, if you wish or 
deserve to live, and bear the name of men, grasp your arms in a 
moment and run to camp. 

"The Back Water men have crossed the moimtains; McDowell, 
Hampton, Shelby and Cleveland are at the head, so that you know 
what you have to depend upon. If you choose to be degraded for- 
ever and ever by a set of mongrels, say so at once, and let your 
women turn their backs upon you, and look out for real men to pro- 
tect them. 

"Pat Ferguson, Major 71st, Regiment." 

Historians, with one accord, have denounced the accusations of 
brutality and immorality made by Ferguson against the men from 
the Watauga, Holston, and Clinch regions as fabrications. They 
were falsehoods, uttered to anger the brutal Tories and arouse them 
to resistance against the "Back Water men." That Ferguson had no 
regard for morality and decency was evidenced by the fact that he 
had two mistresses with him when he was killed. Draper says: 
"both fine looking young women. One of them, known as Virginia 
Sal, a red haired lady, it is related, was the first to fall in the battle, 
and was buried in the same grave with Ferguson, as some assert; 
or as others have it, beside the British and Tory slain; while the 
other, Virginia Paul, survived the action ; and after it was over, was 



382 History of Tazewell County 

seen to ride around the camp as unconcerned as though nothing 
unusual had happened." She was subsequently sent to Lord Corn- 
wallis' army. 

On the evening of the 6th of October, Ferguson, who was trying 
to escape an encounter with the "dregs of mankind/' the riflemen 
from beyond the mountains, who were determined to hunt him down 
and make him and his Tory ruffians bite the dust, took his station 
upon the eminence which has since been famous as King's Mountain. 
The arrogant Briton thought lie could there defy and hold in check 
the Americans until he was reinforced by parties of Loyalists and 
by Tarleton. Draper, in his description of the mountain, says: 

"That portion of it where the action was fought, has little or no 
claim to the distinction of a mountain. * * * The Pinacle, is 
some six miles distant from the battle ground. That portion of the 
oblong hill or stony ridge, now historically famous, is in York 
County, South Carolina, about a mile and a half south of the North 
Carolina line. It is some six hundred yards long, and about two 
hundred and fifty from one base across to the other; or from sixty 
to one hundred and twenty wide on the top, tapering to the south — 
so narrow that a man standing on it may be shot from either side. 
Its summit was some sixty feet above the level of the surrounding 
country." 

The same evening that Ferguson took his position on the moun- 
tain the Americans were at Cowpens with about eleven hundred men. 
There they learned definitely that Ferguson was encamped at King's 
Mountain, and determined to press forward in pursuit of the foe. 
Colonel Campbell was selected by a council of the field officers to 
continue in command of the army, and nine hundred and ten well 
mounted and well armed men were chosen from the entire force to 
march at once. The march was begun at nine o'clock at night, the 
Gth, and was continued all night through a drizzly rain ; but the men 
kept their guns drj^ by wrapping them in their blankets. After 
daylight the march was continued through the rain until noon, and 
the sun came out when the army was about eight miles from King's 
Mountain. Two Tories were captured and they were forced to pilot 
the mountaineers to where Ferguson was encamped. When they 
got within a mile of the enemy, they met George Watkins, a Whig 
patriot, who had been made a prisoner by Ferguson, but had been 



afid Southwest Virginia 383 

released on parole and was on his way home. Watkins gave infor- 
mation that induced the Americans to commence the attack upon 
the enemy without delay. The army was formed into two lines, or 
divisions, one to be led by Colonel Campbell, and the other by 
Colonel Cleveland. Following plans that had already been agreed 
upon in council, the little army encircled the eminence occupied by 
Ferguson, and at about 3 o'clock p. m. the conflict became fast and 
furious. Before advancing to the attack, Campbell went along the 
lines and told his troops: "that if any of them, men or officers, were 
afraid, to quit the ranks and go home; that he wished no man to 
engage in the action who could not fight; that, as for himself, he 
was determined to fight the enemy a week, if need be to gain the 
victory." The Virginia men were the first to get in position, and, 
without waiting for the other regiments, they started into the fray. 
Campbell, when leading his men to the attack, cried out in a loud 
voice, — "Here they are, my brave boys; shout like h — 1, and fight 
like devils." Draper, in his "King's Mountain And Its Heroes," 
says: 

"Where Campbell's men ascended the mountain to commence the 
attack was rough, craggy, and rather abrupt — the most difficult 
ascent of any part of the ridge ; but these resolute mountaineers per- 
mitted no obstacles to prevent them from advancing upon the foe, 
creeping up the acclivity, little by little, and from tree to tree, till 
they were nearly at the top — the action commencing at long fire." 

The men from Tazewell were of and among these resolute moun- 
taineers who were thus fighting as they were accustomed to fight 
the Indians; and it was upon these men that Ferguson turned his 
best troops to make a charge with fixed bayonets. Draper says 
that while the Virginia men were making this advance: 

"Lieutenant Rees Bowen, who commanded one of these com- 
panies of the Virginia regiment, was observed, while marching for- 
ward to attack the enemy, to make a hazardous and unnecessary 
exposure of his person. Some friend kindly remonstrated with 
him — 'why Bowen, do you not take a tree — why rashly present your*- 
self to the deliberate aim of the Provincial and Tory riflemen, con- 
cealed behind every rock and bush before you.^^ — death will inevit- 
ably follow, if you persist.' 'Take to a tree,' he indignantly replied 
— 'no! never shall it be said that I sought safety by hiding my 



384 History of Tazewell County 

person, or dodging from a Briton or Tory who opposed me in the 
field.' " A few moments after uttering these words, the fearless 
Bowen was shot through the breast, fell to the ground, and expired 
almost instantly. 

The engagement lasted for one hour and five minutes, with alter- 
nate advances and repulses by the opposing forces. One historian 
says: "Three times did the Britons charge with bayonet down the 
hill; as often did the Americans retreat: and the moment the Britons 
turned their backs, the Americans shot from behind every tree, and 
every rock, and laid them prostrate." 

Ferguson was as recklessly brave as he was ruthless in his con- 
duct as a soldier. Finding that the "Back Water men" were likely 
to win the day, he resolved to try to make his escape by charging 
at the head of his forces, and cutting his way through the lines of 
the Americans. The mountain riflemen were all eager to have the 
honor of slaying the hated British leader; and in his last charge 
Ferguson received six or eight wounds, one bullet crashing through 
his brain. His death brought consternation to the Tories and Pro- 
vincial troops, and white flags were raised repeatedly by the discom- 
fited enemy; but the confusion was intense and the Americans con- 
tinued to shoot and kill until their vengeance was fully satisfied. 
Campbell and Shelby finally succeeded in getting their men to cease 
firing and the slaughter came to an end. 

From the best information obtainable at the time, it was esti- 
mated that the British had about nine hundred men and the Ameri- 
cans the same number in the engagement; and there were several 
contemporary reports of the losses that each side suffered. Five 
days after the battle Colonel Isaac Shelby wrote a letter to his 
father, Colonel Evan Shelby, in which he reported the British 
casualties as follows: "Ferguson's corps, thirty-seven killed and 
twenty-eight wounded ; Tories, one hundred and twenty-seven killed 
and one hundred and twenty-five wounded — a total of 157 killed and 
153 wounded. Shelby also told his father that 706 prisoners were 
taken. It is conceded by historians that Shelby's report of the 
British losses is more nearly accurate than any given. 

The final official report made by Colonel Campbell and his asso- 
ciate officers placed the Americans killed at twenty-eight, and the 
wounded at sixty-two — a total of ninety. 

Colonel Campbell's regiment of Virginians were the first to enter 



and Southwest Virginia 385 

the engagement and they were in the hotest and thickest of the 
fray while the battle lasted. Consequently, they suffered heavier 
losses than any other regiment engaged. Of the Virginia men, thir- 
teen officers and one private were killed, or mortally wounded; and 
three officers and eighteen privates were wounded and recovered. 
The killed were, Captain William Edmondson; Lieutenants Rees 
Bowen, William Blackburn, and Robert Edmondson, Sr. ; Ensigns 
Andrew Edmondson, John Beattie, James Corry, Nathaniel Dryden, 
Nathaniel Gist, James Philips, and Humberson Lyon, and private 
Henry Henigar. Lieutenant Thomas McCulloch, and Ensign 
James Laird, who had been mortally wounded, died from their 
wounds a few days after the battle. All of the eighteen privates who 
were wounded recovered; but the names of the following are all that 
have been preserved: Frederick Fisher, John Skeggs, Benoni Ban- 
ning, Charles Kilgore, William Bullen, Leonard Hyce, Israel Hay- 
ter, and William Moore. 

After the War of the Revolution was over. Colonels Shelby and 
Sevier were led, or assumed, to believe that Colonel Campbell had 
not acted courageously in the battle. This provoked a controversy 
between the friends of Campbell, who was then dead, and the sup- 
porters of Sevier and Shelby, that was so rancorous that it did not 
terminate until after the death of Colonels Shelby and Sevier. A 
feeling of bitter resentment is still alive among the descendants of 
the three gallant men who, together, won the splendid victory at 
King's Mountain. Lyman C. Draper says: 

"It is a matter of regret that such patriots as Shelby and Sevier 
should have been deceived into the belief that the chivalric Campbell 
shirked from the dangers of the conflict, mistaking, as they did, the 
Colonel's servant in the distance for the Colonel himself ; when well- 
nigh forty survivors of the battle, including some of Campbell's 
worthiest officers, and men of Shelby's, and Cleveland's regiments as 
well, testifying, of their own knowledge, to his personal share in the 
action, and specifying his presence in every part of the hotly-con- 
tested engagement, from the beginning to the final surrender of the 
enemy at discretion. It is evident that such heroes as Shelby and 
Sevier had quite enough to do within the range of their own regi- 
ments, without being able to observe very much what was transpiring 
beyond them." 

T.H.— 25 



386 History of Tazewell County 

Nearly half of the Americans who were killed in the battle, and 
onerthird of the wounded were members of Campbell's regiment, 
while thirteen of the fourteen killed were officers. This shows how 
the Virginians fearlessly met the foe and that they were gallantly 
led by their officers, including Colonel Campbell. 

The Americans had no surgeon, and of the three surgeons with 
Ferguson's men only one survived the battle, Dr, Johnson. He 
kindly gave the necessary surgical attention to the most severely 
wounded Americans, as well as to the British wounded. The Vir- 
ginia frontiersmen, however, were accustomed to treating gunsliot 
wounds, having gained experience from their frequent bloody en- 
counters with the Indians. Both the victors and the vanquished 
camped on the battle field the night following the engagement. One 
of the Virginians who was in the fight afterwards said: "The 
groans of the wounded and dying on the mountain was truly affect- 
ing, begging piteously for water, but in the hurry, confusion and 
exhaustion of the Whigs, these cries, when emanating from Tories, 
were little heeded." 

An interesting event that has come down by tradition occurred in 
this connection. Among Campbell's riflemen from Washington County 
was a German Huguenot by the name of Philip Greever. He was 
then living just west of the present town of Chilhowie, in Smyth 
County. Like all the expert riflemen from Southwest Virginia, he 
fought from behind a tree, and was the first to fire a shot in the 
fight. After the battle was over, the Americans rendered what aid 
they could to their wounded foes, especially those of Ferguson's 
corps. Greever, while engaged in this humane work, found a 
wounded Tory lying behind a tree on the hillside, with his hip broken 
by a rifle bullet and calling for water. Greever went to a spring 
at the foot of the hill, and, having no cup or other vessel, filled his 
coon-skin cap with water and carried it back to the wounded Tory. 
The latter was very grateful for the kind attention given him by the 
mountainer, and bewailed his misfortune as unusually trying, 
because, he said, "the first shot that was fired broke mj^ thigh." 
Greever was very much interested and astonished, and replied: 
"Well I was the man who fired that first shot." This incident comes 
from Greever's son, also named Philip, who moved to Burke's Gar- 
den more than a hundred years ago ; where a number of his descend- 
ants still live. In fact, all the Greevers now in Tazewell county are 



and Southwest Virginia 387 

his descendants. He brought with him to the Garden several relics 
his father picked up on the battle field at King's Mountain, among 
them a pair of scissors which were used for many years as a pound 
weight on the farm steelyards, being the exact weight required for 
that purpose. 

As late as the year 1822 the controversy between the descendants 
of General William Campbell and those of Shelby and Sevier was 
still raging. General Francis Preston, a grandson of General Camp- 
bell, procured from Philip Greever, who was one of the volunteers 
from the Holston settlements in Washington County, an affidavit. 
In this affidavit, Greever swore that General Campbell "behaved as 
a brave officer and was kind to his men but severe against the 
Tories." Greever also stated very modestly in the affidavit that he 
was the first one of Campbell's men to fire at a "Tory I saw behind 
a tree." As Campbell's men were the first to engage in the battle 
it necessarily follows that Greever fired the first shot at King's 
Mountain. This practically substantiates the story handed down by 
tradition through the descendants of Philip Greever. The affidavit 
was never published, and the original is now in the possession of 
Captain John M. Preston, a great-great-grandson of General Camp- 
bell, who owns and lives upon a part of the Campbell place, Aspin- 
vale, at Seven Mile Ford, Smyth County. 

On the morning of the 8th of October, the army began its return 
march, with the prisoners strongly guarded, and the wounded Xmeri- 
cans convej'ed on horse-litters. Colonel Campbell remained behind 
with a detail of men to bury the American and British dead, but 
joined his men when they went into camp about twelve miles from 
the battle ground. Most of the troops had been without food for 
two days, and near the camp a sweet potato patch was found with 
sufficient potatoes to supply the whole army. Colonel Shelby said 
of the homeward journey: "Owing to the number of wounded, and 
the destitution of the army of all conveyances, they traveled very 
slowly, and in one week had only marched about forty miles." 
There is no record which shows when the men from Tazewell arrived 
at their homes, but it is to be presumed that they all got back safely, 
except their gallant leader, Rees Bowen, whom they left in a heroe's 
grave at King's Mountain, and Ensign James Laird, wlio died from 
the wounds he received in the battle. He was being conveyed home 
on a horse-litter, and, wheii ci'ossing fi mountain or stream^ wa^ 



388 History of Tazewell County 

thrown from the litter. The heavy fall opened the wounds afresh 
and the shock killed him. 



Very soon after the Tazewell patriots returned from King's 
Mountain, another call was made upon the men of Southwest Vir- 
ginia to go to North Carolina. In January, 1781, General Nathaniel 
Greene was commanding the patriot army in that State, and was 
being hard pressed by Cornwallis and Tai'leton. On the 13th of 
the month, General Greene wrote to Colonel William Campbell, 
reminding him of the gallant conduct of himself and his Washington 
County riflemen at King's Mountain; and requesting him "to bring, 
without loss of time, a thousand good volunteers from over the moun- 
tain." Campbell took immediate steps to comply with General 
Greene's urgent request; and on the 25th of February he started 
with about two hundred volunteers from the Washington County 
militia to join General Greene. 

After starting on the march, Campbell wrote a letter to Governor 
Jefferson in which he said: "A large number would have gone, 
were it not for the daily apprehensions of attacks from the north- 
ward and southern Indians." The British agents were still urging 
the Cherokees to invade the Holston settlements, and small bands 
of Ohio Indians were making bloody scalping expeditions to the 
Clinch Valley. Colonel Campbell proceeded to the Lead Mines with 
his volunteers, and was there joined by several hundred Montgomery 
County militia, led by Colonel William Preston and Major Walter 
Crockett. From the Lead Mines, the united forces were marched to 
North Carolina and reached General Greene on the 2nd of March, 
1781. There was a company of men under the command of Captain 
James Moore with the Campbell-Preston forces. They were from 
that portion of Tazewell that was then embraced in Montgomery 
County. James Moore had been commissioned by Governor Jeffer- 
son a captain of militia upon the recommendation of the county court 
of Montgomery County at its April term, 1779; and George Peery 
and William McGuire liad been commissioned, respectively. First 
and Second Lieutenant of Moore's company. No roll of the com- 
pany was preserved, but from tradition and scattered records it is 
known that, Cajotain James Moore, George Peery, James Cartmill, 
Samuel Furguson, William Peery, John Peery, and Thomas Peery 



and Southwest Virginia 389 

were with the Montgomery militia, and participated in the engage- 
ment at Whitzell's Mills on the 6th of March, and in the battle at 
Guilford Court House on the 15th of March, 1781. In both of these 
engagements the riflemen from Washington and Montgomery coun- 
ties enacted an important part; and with their "terrible guns" 
inflicted heavy losses upon the enemy. In this battle at Guilford 
Court House the men from both of the counties were commanded by 
Colonel William Campbell; and they were the first to enter the 
engagement and the last to withdraw from it. Draper says: 

"So severely did Campbell's riflemen handle his right wing, that 
Lord Cornwallis was obliged to order Tarleton to extricate it, and 
bring it off. By this time Lee had retired with his cavalry, without 
apprising Campbell of his movement; and the result was, that the 
riflemen were swept from the field." 

In the charge made by Tarleton's men, Thomas Peery was killed 
and his father, John Peery, was frightfully wounded. He was dis- 
abled by a saber blow and fell upon the ground. While prostrate, 
as Tarleton's troops passed their stricken foe, each brutal Briton 
gave him a cut with a saber. He received fifty-four saber cuts, and 
his head and arms were literally cut to pieces. But the hardy Taze- 
well pioneer survived, recovered from his numerous wounds, and 
returned to his home on the Clinch, where he lived a number of 
years in enjoyment of the freedom for which he had given a gallant 
son and suffered so terribly himself. 

There were others of the Tazewell pioneers who were active par- 
ticipants in the Revolutionary War and did service in the Conti- 
nental army, but the names of only a few of them have been 
recorded. It is known that Thomas Harrisson fought in the engage- 
ments at Brandy wine, Germantown, and Yorktown ; Archer Maloney 
was at Brandywine, and Stoney Point; and Isam Tomlinson was in 
the battles at Brandywine and Germantown. 



During the entire progress of the Revolution the inhabitants of 
the Upper Clinch Valley were compelled to rely upon their own 
strong arms and brave hearts for protection against the hostile 
Indians. The civil and military authorities of Washington and 
Montgomery counties were apparently more anxious to protect the 



390 History of Tazewell County 

settlements in Kentucky and the Greenbrier and Kanawha regions 
than those of the Clinch Valley. It may be that the Washington and 
Montgomery autliorities were impelled to this course by their abso- 
lute confidence in the superior capacity of our pioneer ancestors to 
take care of themselves — and in tiiis tiiev were not mistaken. At 
any rate, the Sandy Valley was left wide open, there being no forts 
or stations established on the Ohio River, from the mouth of the 
Kanawha to the mouth of Licking Creek. This not only gave oppor- 
tunity but was seemingly an invitation to the Sliawnees to make hos- 
tile attacks upon the Clinch Valley settlements. The redskins 
availed themselves of the opportunity, and made frequent bloody 
incursions, of which I will write in succeeding chapters. 

For the first three years of the Revolutionary period, the Vir- 
ginia Government gave no attention to the exposed settlements of 
the Clinch Valley; but at last, on the 23rd of July, 1779, the State 
Council entered an order directing General Andrew Lewis, Colonel 
William Fleming, and Colonel William Christian "to meet for the 
purpose of fixing the Stations proper for the Troops designed for the 
Defence of the So. Western Frontiers." 

In compliance with this order. General Andrew Lewis and 
Colonel William Fleming met at Botetourt, August 31, 1779; "and 
on ]\Iaturely considering the order of Council, to comply therewith, 
in forming as compleat a Chain of defence as the number of men 
allotted for that service will admit of. It is our opinion that at, or 
as near the following places mentioned as a proper situation will 
suit — Fifty men with the usual Officers be stationed at or near the 
Mouth of Guayandot and Fifty Rank & File with the proper Officers 
at or near the Mouth of Big Sandy River, One Hundred Rank & 
File at or near the Junction of Licking Creek with the Ohio. And 
Fifty at or near Martin's Cabin in Powells Valley. We imagine 
these posts occupied on the Ohio, will be of more service for the 
protection of the frontier than stationing the Battalion near the 
Inhabitants." In their report to Governor Jefferson, General 
Lewis and Colonel Fleming make it very plain that garrisons sta- 
tioned at the several points suggested, would give excellent defence 
to the entire Virginia frontier on the Ohio River. If the recom- 
mendations of Lewis and Fleming had been adopted and promptly 
carried out, there would have been no subsequent incursions made 
by the Indians to the Clinch Valley ; and a number of precious 



and Southwest Virginia 391 

lives would have been saved from the tomahawks and scalping 
knives of the savages. 

IN SUCCESSION RUSSELL, WYTHE AND TAZEWELL COUNTIES 
WERE FORMED. 

As soon as the Revolutionary War had terminated in favor of 
the United Colonies, numbers of new settlers established them- 
selves in the section which later became Tazewell County. They 
were largely attracted by the fertile lands, splendid springs and 
mountain streams, abundance of game, and the rich pasturage for 
domestic animals. And they were also drawn hither from a desire 
to become the friends and neighbors of the pioneer settlers, who 
were famous as Indian fighters and had won distinction at King's 
Mountain, or on other battlefields in the great struggle for Ameri- 
can freedom. 

The suggestions of Lewis and Fleming that forts should be 
erected at the mouth of Guyandotte and the mouth of Big Sandy 
were not carried out; and the inhabitants of the Clinch Valley were 
left exposed for the next succeeding thirteen years to bloody attacks 
from the Ohio Indians. This was a great injustice on the part of 
the State and county authorities to the settlers who were founding 
a community that would, in the coming years, be recognized as one 
of the most useful, wealthy, and intelligent within the bounds of 
our Commonwealth. Regardless of the careless and indifferent 
treatment extended them, our worthy ancestors wrought on, and 
within a period of thirty years from the arrival of the first settlers 
on the Clinch had transformed the wilderness into a substantial 
community of comfortable homes. 

In the meantime, there had been such considerable accessions 
to the population of the Lower Clinch Valley settlements, and in 
those sections of Washington County that now compose the coun- 
ties of Russell, Scott, Lee, and Wise, that the inhabitants were 
desirous of having a new county erected. To that end a petition 
was presented to the Virginia General Assembly by the citizens of 
the said territory; and an act for dividing Washington County into 
two counties was passed by the Legislature on the 6th of January, 
1786. The new county was named Russell, from General William 
Russell, its then most distinguished citizen; and the boundaries of 
the two counties were defined as follows: "All that part of the 



392 History of Tazewell County 

said county (Washington) lying within a line, to be run along the 
Clinch Mountain to the Carolina line (now Tennessee line) ; thence 
with that line to the Cumberland Mountain and the extent of the 
country between the Cumberland Mountain, Clinch Mountain, and 
the line of Montgomery County, shall be one distinct county, and 
shall be called and known by the name of Russell, and the residue 
of the said county shall retain the name of Washington." 

The beginning point was at the Montgomery County line, on 
the top of the Clinch Mountain, about three miles southwest of 
Morris' Knob. Thus it will be seen that all of Washington County 
that was located north of Clinch Mountain was constituted and 
became Russell County; and that all that portion of Tazewell 
County, as originally formed, lying west of the Montgomery line 
was made a part of Russell by the act of 1786. 

Three years later the inhabitants of that part of Montgomery 
County lying west of New River, petitioned the General Assembly 
to erect a new county. In response to the petition, the General 
Assembly, on December the 1st, 1789, passed an act for dividing 
the county of Montgomery and creating a new county to be called 
Wythe. The act declared: "That from and after the first day of 
May next (1790), all that part of the county of Montgomery, which 
lies south-west of a line beginning on the Henry line, at the head of 
Big Reedy Island, from thence to the wagon ford at Peek creek; 
thence to clover bottom on Bluestone, thence to the Kanawha 
county line, shall form one distinct county, and be called and known 
by the name of Wythe." 

The new county received its name from George Wythe, the emi- 
nent jurist, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, as a delegate from Virginia. All of the territory east of 
the line between Russell and Montgomery that afterwards became a 
part of Tazewell County was placed in Wythe County, where it 
remained until Tazewell was formed. 



The high ambition that brought the pioneers to the Upper 
Clinch Valley at length reached a concrete form. They had been 
compelled, even if they had not preferred to do so, to carve out 
their own destiny as a community, unassisted in this isolated but 



and Southwest Virginia 393 

charming region. Their self-reliance had grown as their duties and 
numbers had multiplied; and in the closing years of the eighteenth 
century they began to yearn and clamor for the full exercise of 
local self-government. In other words, they wanted a county for 
themselves. This aspiration was at first obstructed and thwai-ted 
by certain citizens of the two counties — Russell and Wythe — from 
parts of which the new county was to be formed. The opposition 
came largely from the county officers of Wythe and Russell. They 
did not want to relinquish any of the emoluments of their offices, 
some of the offices being very lucrative for that day and generation. 

In 1799 the movement for a new county became so active and 
persistent that it brought to pass the long desired event. A petition 
was prepared, circulated, and signed by hundi'eds of citizens of the 
counties of Russell and Wythe praying for the creation of a new 
county. It was my good fortune recently to find among the archives 
deposited in the Virginia State Library the original petition sent 
to the General Assembly one hundred and twenty years ago. Its 
recitals so graphically set forth the needs of the settlements in 
Tazewell at that period that it is invaluable from a historic stand- 
point. Hence, I will give it in full: 

"To the Honourable the Speaker, And Gentlemen of the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Virginia; 

"The Petition of the Inhabitants of a part of the Counties of 
Wythe & Russell, humbly Represents 

That your Petitioners for near thirty years, have been under 

the Disagreeable Necessity of traveling fifty miles or upward to 
transact our own Ordinary Business, besides Regimental Musters, 
Elections, &c in which cases the Laws of the State Requires our 
attendance. — Our Roads also are Intolerably bad; many of your 
Petitioners have to cross four Large Mountains, the least of which 
chain would in the Interior parts of the State, be considered almost 
Impassable, And, between each of those Mountains there are Rapid 
Water Courses, which in common with all streams Among Moun- 
tains, are Quickly made Impassable by Rains, and Renders the 
passage Dangerous, as well as fatigueing & Expensive. Your 
Petitioners have for many years, not only Experienced the hard- 
ships Naturally to be expected from the above Difficulties, but at 
the same time had to Defend ourselves against the Perpetual Incur- 



394 History of Tazewell County 

sions of our Savage Enemies, and that at the Expense of many 
Valuable Lives; still hoping and expecting, that when peace would 
again Return to our Country, when our Number, and other circum- 
stances would fairly admit, that the General Assembly (on applica- 
tion) would Remove our Local Inconveniences, by granting us A 
new County; We however have been thus far Disappointed in our 
Expectations, by a small party of Designing men who have from 
dme to time Op]Dosed our Petition, and by Misrepresenting our case, 
have prevented our success ; But as we find our Difficulties Increase 
with our Population as we wish for nothing more than A Just 
Representation of facts, And as we believe, that if the General 
Assembly wei-e fully acquainted with the Geography of our country, 
it would Insure our success, we beg leave once more to pray tliat 
your Honourable house would be pleased to pass an act that a new 
county may be formed of parts taken from the counties of Wythe 
and Russell, Beginning at the Kanawha Line and Running with the 
Line which divides the counties of Wythe and Montgomery to where 
said line Crosses the top of Brushy Mountain, Thence along the 
top of said Mountain to its junction with the Garden Mountain, 
thence along said Mountain to the Clinch Mountain, Thence along 
the top of said Mountain to the head of Cove Creek, a Branch of 
the Maiden Spring fork of Clinch River; Thence a straight Line to 
Manns Gap in Kents Ridge; Thence North, forty five Degrees 
West, till it strikes the Line which Divides the State of Kentucky, 
from that of Virginia; Along sd. Line to the Kanawha Line, And 
with said Line to the Beginning. — A County bounded as above, 
would we humbly Conceive Answer all the purposes contemplated 
by your Petitioners without Injuring Either of the Counties from 
which it would be taken, as it would leave the court house of Rus- 
sell County in the Centre thereof, & prevent all Disputes in the 
future about the situation of the court house in that county, it wo\dd 
also Divide the County of Wythe by the Chain of Mountains above 
Described & thereby Add to the ease and convenience of both par- 
ties. We therefore submit our case to the most serious considera- 
tion of the Legislature, in humble confidence that our grievances 
will be Redressed and that A New County will be formed Agreeable 
to the prayer of our petition. And your petitioners as in Duty 
bound shall ever pray &c." 



and Southwest Virginia 395 

Is it any wonder that the petitioners from Russell and Wythe 
attained their object? A stronger and more effectively conceived 
petition was never presented to the Virginia General Assembly. 
The penmanship of the petition is very fine; and though the paper 
abounds with capital letters and is defective in punctuation, it is 
a wonderfully forceful document; and it is unfortunate that the 
name of the author was not preserved. I have repeatedly asserted 
that the settlers of the Upper Clinch and Bluestone Valleys were 
cruelly neglected by the State and county authorities; and this 
petition verifies my assertions. 

Wlien the petition was presented to the General Assembly it met 
with the usual opposition from "Designing men;" but on the 20th 
of December, 1799, the act was passed for the erection of a new 
county, and the act is as follows : 

"I. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That all that part of 
the counties of Wythe and Russell, lying within the following 
bounds, beginning on the Kanawha line and running with the line 
which divides Montgomery and Wythe counties to where the said line 
crosses the top of Brushy mountain, thence along the top of the said 
mountain to its junction with the Garden mountain, thence along 
the top of the said mountain to the Church mountain (should be 
Clinch Mountain), thence along the top of the said mountain to the 
head of Cove Creek a branch of the Maiden Spring fork of Clinch 
river; thence a straight line to Mann's Gap in Kent's ridge; thence 
north forty-five degrees west, to the line which divides the state of 
Kentucky from that of Virginia; thence along said line to the 
Kanawha line, and with said line to the place of beginning, shall be 
known by the name of Tazewell." 

The act provided that the county court, which was to be com- 
posed of justices appointed by the governor, should hold its terms 
on the first Tuesday in every month after the county was organized ; 
and that the first meeting of said court should be held at the house 
of Henry Harman, Junior; that, after taking the oaths prescribed 
by law, the justices were directed to administer the oath of office 
to and take a bond from the sheriff who had been appointed and 
commissioned by the governor; that they appoint and qualify a 
clerk; "and fix upon a place for holding courts in the said county, 
at, or near the centre thereof as the situation and conveniences will 
admit." After they had selected a county seat, the justices were 



396 History of Tazewell County 

directed to erect public buildings thereon. There were other pro- 
visions in the act that it is unnecessary to give in detail. 

It seems that the "Designing men," who were opposing the 
erection of a new county had enlisted the sujDport of Littleton W. 
Tazewell. He was a young man, twenty-six years old, and was 
serving his first term in the Virginia House of Delegates as the 
representative from James City County. Bickley, speaking of the 
opposition manifested by young Tazewell and the incidents con- 
nected therewith, says : 

"Tazewell county was named, not in honor of Littleton W. 
Tazewell, as is generally supposed, but received its name somewhat 
in the following manner. Simon Cotterel, who was the represen- 
tative from Russell in 1799, having been authorized to apjDly for 
the formation of a new county, drew up a bill, and proposed it 
on the 18th, of December, 1779, but met with the most violent 
opposition from Mr. Tazewell, a member from Norfolk county, and 
a relative of L. W. Tazewell then in Congress. Cotterel rose in 
his seat, and begged the gentleman to withold his remarks till his 
bill was matured, to which he assented. Cotterel erased the pro- 
posed name and inserted that of Tazewell, and the next day (19th) 
presented his bill thus amended. Tazewell was silenced; the bill 
passed, receiving Tazewell's vote. To this stratagem the county is 
indebted for its name." 

It is evident that Dr. Bickley was again misled by relying 
entirely upon tradition. Possibly some of the features of the story 
he heard as coming from Cotterel may be true, but in the main they 
are incorrect. Littleton W. Tazewell was too high a man to be 
induced to withdraw his opposition to the formation of the new 
county by such a trivial stratagem as that named by Bickley. After 
serving in the Legislature young Tazewell was elected to Congress 
in 1800, but declined re-election in 1802. He served in the United 
States Senate in 1834-36. In 1829 he declined the mission to 
England; and in 1834<-36 was governor of Virginia. 

The county of Tazewell received its name from Henry Tazewell, 
who was a member of tlie United States Senate from Virginia when 
tlie act was passed creating the county. At that time he was one of 
the most distinguished citizens of the Commonwealth. From 1775 



and Southwest Virginia 397 

to 1785 he was a member, in succession, of the Virginia House of 
Burgesses and the House of Delegates; and served on the com- 
mittees that drew the Bill of Rights and the first Constitution for 
Virginia. He was for a number of years a judge of the District 
Court and the Court of AjDj^eals of this State. 

Littleton W. Tazewell represented James City County, and not 
Norfolk County, in the House of Delegates in 1799. The State 
records show that Simon Cockrell, not "Simon Cotterel," represented 
Russell County at the session of 1798-99, with Francis Browning 
as his colleague; and at the session of 1799-1800, with James 
McFarlane as his colleague. The patent errors committed by Bick- 
ley, through relying on hearsay information, or tradition, make the 
tale about the stratagem practiced by Cotterel insufficiently authen- 
tic to be accepted as history. 



i 



Appendices— Pioneer Period 



A — Sketches of Pioneer Families; B — Mas- 
sacres by Indians 



APPENDIX A TO PIONEER PERIOD 



SKETCHES OF PIONEER FAMILIES. 

Though it has never been my intention to make this, in any 
respect, a genealogical history of the families of the first settlers, 
it has been my purpose to write brief sketches of the pioneers and 
the first generation born in Tazewell. But even in this worthy 
design I have been greatly hampered by failure on the part of the 
descendants of the pioneers to supply me with needed information. 
Therefore, the sketches must be brief and few in number. As pre- 
viously stated in this work, I will make no great effort to disclose the 
antecedents of the pioneers, except for the purpose of showing from 
whence they came. Thomas Witten was the first white man to take 
up permanent residence with his family within the limits of the 
present Tazewell County. For this reason, he and his family will 
be the first mentioned in these sketches. 

THE WITTENS AND CECILS. 

These two families were so intermingled by marriage for several 
generations after they came to the Clinch Valley that I will write 
of them in a single sketch. The Wittens were of Teutonic origin; 
but left Saxony and migrated to England as early as the ninth 
century. There they became identified with the Anglo-Saxons, who 
had conquered the Britons and gave the name England to ancient 
Britain. The Cecils were of purely Celtic blood, and natives of 
the British Isles. Tradition and documentary evidence reveal that 
the progenitors of the Wittens and Cecils in America came from 
England with the Calverts, and settled in Maryland, then Lord 
Baltimore's colony. 

In 1766, Thomas Witten and Samuel Cecil, men with large fami- 
lies, and neighbors and kinsmen, moved from Maryland to the 
region now called Southwest Virginia. Thomas Witten's wife was 
Elizabeth Cecil, a sister of Samuel Cecil. 

Witten located temporarily at what is now known as the "Wil- 
liam Allen Place", on Walkers Creek, in the present Giles County, 
Virginia, on the road between Poplar Hill and White Gate in said 

[401] 

TH.— 26. 



402 History of ^Tazewell County 

county. Cecil pitched his tent where the town of Dublin^ in Pulaski 
County, is now located. He lived there until he died, in 1785, and 
there he and his wife are buried. 

John Witten, the eldest son of Thomas, who had married before 
he left Maryland, stopped on the way out and located near the 
Peaks of Otter, in Bedford County. Later he came on to the Clinch 
and located at the place where John C. St. Clair now lives, four 
miles west of the county seat. The log cabin he used for a dwelling 
is still standing, and is perhaps the oldest house in the county. He 
afterwards returned with his family to Bedford, and in 1820 con- 
veyed his valuable farm at the foot of Paint Lick Mountain to his 
brother, Thomas Witten, Jr. John Witten has a number of descend- 
ants in Bedford and Amherst counties, but they spell the name 
"Whitten." 

In the spring of 1767, Thomas Witten moved on from Walker's 
Creek with his family to the "Crabapple Orchard" tract on Clinch 
River, and with him came John Greenup, who had married Eliza- 
beth, the eldest daughter of Witten. He also brought out five 
unmarried sons, Thomas, Jr., James, Philip, Jeremiah and William. 
The latter was a small boy when his father settled on the Clinch, 
and James was then only fifteen years old. After attaining man- 
hood, Philip married Ruth Dickerson and moved to Witten's Land- 
ing on the Ohio River. William, the youngest son of the first 
Thomas, married and moved to the Saquatche Valley, in Tennessee. 

When trouble began with the Indians, about 1772 or 1773, 
Thomas Witten and his sons, assisted by their neighbors, built a 
stockaded fort on the Clinch, near Pisgah. This was one of the 
first three forts built in the present bounds of Tazewell County, 
and was a place of refuge for all the inhabitants of the neighbor- 
hood when the Indians made hostile incursions to the Clinch settle- 
ments. 

Two of Thomas Witten's sons, Thomas, Jr., and James, gained 
much local distinction because of their performances as soldiers and 
scouts. Thomas, Jr. was not only conspicuous as an Indian fighter, 
but was also an ensign in the service of the United Colonies in the 
Revolutionary War. He served as ensign in one of the companies 
from Montgomery County that protected tlie border from savage 
invasions while the Revolution was in progress. In recognition of 
his services he was granted a pension of $24.00 a month by the 



and Southwest Virginia 



403 



United States Government^ which he received until his death. To 
show that he was highly esteemed in civil life by his fellow-citizens 
he was elected one of the first members from Tazewell, along with 
David Ward, to represent the county in the Virginia General Assem- 
bly, serving at the sessions of 1801-02 and 1802-03. He married his 
cousin, Eleanor Cecil, and fixed his home at the place where Allen 
Higginbotham now lives at the east end of Paint Lick Mountain. 

James Witten was distinguished while a youth as the first among 
his equals as a woodsman and hunter; and even before he reached 




Colonel Wilkinson Witten son of James Witten, the scout and 
pioneer, born Aug. 12th, 1807, died March 26th, 1878. He was one of 
the most esteemed and useful citizens of his day; and represented 
Tazewell County several times in both houses of the Virginian General 
Assembly. 

his majority was recognized as the most skillful and daring scout 
employed by the military authorities against the Indians. Bickley 
says: "He was brave and generous to a fault. When any duty 
requiring bravery, firmness and prudence, had to be performed, 
James Witten was the man invariably chosen, as he possessed these 
qualities in an eminent degree. Many incidents of interest are 
related of him, which should be preserved." These incidents, 
unfortunately, were not related by Bickley; and his descendants, 
who have been called upon to pass through troublous times, have 
failed to preserve the many noble and daring deeds of their gallant 
ancestor. He married his cousin, Rebecca Cecil, daughter of 



404 History of Tazewell County 

Samuel Cecil, in 1783, and located his home at the place where 
Colonel Wilk Witten, his grandson, afterwards lived and died, on 
Plum Creek, three miles west of the county seat. Very near and 
in view of the spot where he built his first cabin home, the dust of 
this pioneer hero is resting beneath a bluegrass sod that grows on 
soil his strong arms reclaimed from a wilderness waste. His grave 
is marked by a rude marble slab, but cattle and other animals, I am 
informed, are free to graze and trample upon and about it. His 
numerous descendents, hundreds of whom now live in Tazewell 
County, should not permit such neglect of the last resting place of 
their gallant ancestor, but should erect a suitable monument there 
to perpetuate his memory. 

Jeremiah Witten, tliough older than his brothers, Thomas and 
James, held no official rank as a soldier, but he performed faithful 
service as a private. I have before me certain data which tends to 
show that he was a member of Captain William Russell's company 
and was with him at the battle of Point Pleasant. After his return 
from the Lewis expedition to the mouth of the Kanawha, he per- 
formed garrison duty at his father's fort at the Crabapple Orchard, 
his name being on the roll of the garrison stationed there in October, 
1774. He married, and located his home on Plum Creek, at the 
place where the late, lamented T. E. George lived; and he has many 
descendants now living in Tazewell County. 



William Cecil, son of Samuel Cecil, married his cousin, Ann 
Witten, daughter of Thomas Witten, about the year 1773. He 
and his wife made their home on the Clinch at the place where Otis 
E. Hopkins now lives. I once had in my possession a patent for 
this boundary of land that was issued by authority of George III. 
to William Cecil, and which bore date 1774. This is the oldest 
patent for land in Tazewell County I have ever seen. William Cecil 
was my great-grandfather and I am named from him. His brother, 
James Cecil, later, settled at the head of Baptist Valley, where he 
built the house now owned and occupied as a residence by Fullen 
Thompson. This is, possibly, the oldest house in Tazewell County 
that is now used as a dwelling. The two brothers, each, reared a 
large family of children. They were not conspicuous as soldiers, 



and Southwest Virginia 



405 



but, no doubt, did their duty as frontiersmen when the Indians 
invaded the settlements. 

William and Ann Cecil had six daughters and two sons. Susan 
married Alex Sayers; Rebecca never married; Elizabeth married 
William Price; Linnie married Crabtree Price; John married Lin- 
nie Witten, who was his double first cousin and a daughter of James 
Witten the scout; Nancy married Buse Harman; Samuel married 
Sallie Poston; and Sally married James Caldwell. The Prices 
moved to Missouri; and the Caldwells moved to Tennessee. Cap- 






Samuel Cecil, son of William Cecil, the pioneer, born in 1788, died 
in 1868. He was one of the finest characters Virginia has ever pro- 
duced. 

tain John Cecil, son of William Cecil, was a prominent figure in the 
civil and military life of the count3^ He was for many years a 
member of the county court; and represented the county in the 
Virginia House of Delegates at the sessions of 1808-09, 1810-11 
and 1811-12. While the War of 1812 was in progress he raised 
a company of volunteers and was made captain of the company, 
but the Government declined to muster it into service. After he 
married. Captain Cecil made his home on Little River, known as the 
Maiden Spring Fork of Clinch River. He there acquired what is 
now one of the most beautiful and valuable farms in Tazewell 
County. He sold the place to John Baylor for Confederate money 
during the Civil War, and thus lost his splendid estate. 



406 History of Tazewell County 

Samuel Cecily son of William^ after his marriage with Sally 
Poston, in 1814! built his home on the north side of and overlooking 
the Clinch, and opposite the mouth of Plum Creek. The house is 
still standing, is known as the Mays place/ and is now owned by 
Mrs. O. E. Hopkins, a great-granddaughter of Samuel Cecil. My 
mother was born, reared and married to my father in tliis house. 
Samuel Cecil did not care for public life, and was never an office- 
holder, civil or military, but was esteemed by all persons who came 
in contact with him as one of the nicest gentlemen they ever met, 
and one of the best citizens the county ever produced. His home 
was among the most noted in the county for its delightful hospi- 
tality, where the poor and humble received the same courteous 
treatment as was extended to the richest and most distinguished 

It is apparent that my reason for writing about the Wittens and 
Cecils in one sketch, because of their intermarrying, is well founded. 
Thomas Witten's wife was Elizabeth, the sister of Samuel Cecil. 
Three of her sons, John, Thomas and James, married daughters of 
her brother Samuel; and two of her daughters, Keziah and Ann, 
married sons of her brother, Samuel Cecil. This was a pretty liberal 
exchange in the marriage relation of brothers and sisters already 
closely related by a previous marriage. And it made the children 
of each twain double first cousins of the children of all the other 
twains. By blood they were practically brothers and sisters. 

John Greenup, who married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of 
Thomas and Elizabeth Witten, remained with his family in Taze- 
well only a brief while after the county was organized. He had 
two grown sons, Thomas and Christopher, when the county was 
formed. When the county court, at its December term, 1800, recom- 
mended certain citizens to the governor of Virginia for appointment 
as officers of the militia, Thomas Greenup was named as one of th? 
captains of tlie 2nd Battalion of tlie 112th Regiment. 

In 1801, Jolm Greenup and his family, including Thomas and 
Christopher, moved to Kentucky. The Greenups became prominent 
in the affairs of the State; and in 1801-, Christopher Greenup was 
made governor. He was inaugurated June 1st, 1804, and served 
the State four years as its Chief Executive. He was so highly 
esteemed as a citizen that a splendid county in the Bluegrass State 
was given his name. Greenup County borders on the Ohio below 
the mouth of Big Sandy River. 



and Southwest Virginia 407 

THE BOWENS OF TAZEWELL. 

Rees Bowen was the second white man who brought his family 
to make permanent residence in the Clinch Valley. Therefore it is 
meet that he and his family should be the second considered in the 
sketches I am writing of the pioneer families. 

The Tazewell Bowens are of Celtic blood. Their immediate 
ancestor was Moses Bowen, a Welchman, who married Rebecca 
•Rees. They came from Wales to America a good many years before 
the Revolution, and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. 
Their son John was a Quaker, and he married Lily Mcllhany. He 
and his wife moved from Pennsylvania to Augusta County, Virginia, 
soon after the fii-st settlements wei'e made in the Shenandoah Val- 
ley, perhaps as early as the year 1732; and located in that part of 
Augusta now embraced in the county of Rockbridge. They had 
twelve children and Rees was one of their five sons. He married 
Louisa Smith, whose parents then lived in that section of Augusta 
now known as Rockingham County. It is said that, after his mar- 
riage, he took up his abode on the Roanoke River close to where 
the city of Roanoke is now situated. 

In some way Rees Bowen learned of the fertile lands and abund- 
ance of game that could be found in the Upper Clinch Valley; and 
he concluded to abandon his home on the Roanoke River and settle 
in this region, where he could locate and occupy, without cost, a 
large boundary of fine unoccupied land. It is known from tradition 
that when he arrived with his family in the vincinity of the great 
spring, to which he gave a peculiar name, he had not then selected 
the boundary of land upon which he would settle. After they went 
into camp, on the evening of the day he reached the place that has 
since been the home of the Bowens, he went out to find and kill a 
deer to get a supply of fresh meat. While thus engaged he dis- 
covered the spring. Bickley thus tells of the discovery of the 
immense fountain and what followed: 

"When Mr. Bowen first saw the spring, he discovered a fine 
young female deer, feeding on the moss within the orifice from 
which gushes the spring. He shot it, and when he went to get his 
deer, saw a pair of elk horns standing on their points, and leaning 
against the rocks. Mr. Bowen was a very large and tall man, yet 
he had no difficulty in walking upright under the horns. He chose 



408 



History of Tazewell County 



this place for his, and the spring and river have since been known 
as Maiden Spring and Fork." 

The first four years after he and his family located at Maiden 
Spring were free from any hostile demonstrations by the Indians 
against the Clinch settlements. He was possessed of great physical 
strength and was very industrious, and in the four years he erected 




y General Rees T. Bowcn, grandson of Lieutenant Rees Bowen, was 

born at Maiden Spring January lOth, 1809, and died August 29th, 
1879. He was made a brigadier general of militia by Governor Henry 
A. Wise in 1856; and represented Tazewell County in the Virginia 
House of Delegates in 1863-1864. General Bowen was elected by the 
Consei-vative party to represent the Ninth District in the Forty-third 
Congress; and seived in that body from December 1st, 1873, to March 
3rd, 1875. He was the first citizen of Tazewell County that served 
in the National Legislature. 

a large and strong log house, extended his clearings into the forests 
and added considerably to the number of horses and cattle he 
brought with liim from his home on the Roanoke. Then came 
trouble with the Ohio Indians, in 1773, when the whole frontier 
of Virginia was threatened by tlie red men; and Rees Bowen built 
a heavy stockade around his dwelling, converting it into an excellent 
neighborhood fort. 

In the meantime, his four brothers, John, Arthur, William and 
Moses had moved out from Augusta to find homes in the country 
west of New River. John settled at some point in the Holston 



and Southwest Virginia 409 

Valley; Arthur located in the present Smyth County, four miles 
west of Marion; and William and Moses took up their abode in 
the Clinch Valley, but in what immediate locality is now unknown. 
When Dunmore's War came on the three brothers, Rees, William 
and Moses, went with Captain William Russell's company on the 
Lewis expedition to the mouth of the Kanawha River; and were 
prominent figures in the eventful battle at Point Pleasant. Moses 
Bowen was then only twenty years old; and on the return march 
from the Kanawha he was stricken with smallpox, from which 
frightful malady he died in the wilderness. 

After his return from Point Pleasant, for two years Rees Bowen, 
like all the pioneer settlers, was actively engaged in clearing up 
fields from the forest and increasing the comforts of his new home. 
While thus occupied the war between the colonies and Great Britain 
began; and the British Government turned the Western Indians 
loose on the Virginia frontiers. This caused the organization of a 
company of militia, expert Indian fighters, in the Clinch Valley. 
The two Bowen brothers were members of the company, William 
being captain, and Rees, lieutenant. This company, composed of 
pioneers, did effective service for the protection of the settlers in 
the Clinch and the Holston valleys. 

When Colonels Shelby and Sevier, in the fall of 1780, appealed 
to Colonel William Campbell to join them in the expedition to 
King's Mountain, with a volunteer force from Washington County, 
Virginia, the company from Clinch Valley volunteered to go. Owing 
to illness from a serious attack of fever. Captain William Bowen 
was unable to lead his men on the expedition, and the command of 
the company devolved upon Lieutenant Rees Bowen. He marched 
with his company and joined Campbell at Wolf Hill (now Abing- 
don), and thence on to the Carolinas, and gave his life for American 
freedom, while leading his men in the memorable battle at King's 
Mountain. 

The widow of the pioneer hero, Louisa Bowen, bravely accepted 
the responsibility of rearing eight orphan children, none of whom 
had reached their majority. A chart of the Bowen family, which 
I have before me, shows that these children were: John, Rees, 
Nancy, Margaret, Rebecca, Lily, Louisa and Henry Bowen. The 
chart does not disclose anything in connection with John, the first 
mentioned among the children of Rees and Louisa Bowen. Rees, 



410 History of Tazewell County 

the second, married his cousin Rebecca, daughter of John Bowen, 
who had established himself in the Holston Valley; Nancy married 
Major John Ward, who was the first clerk of Tazewell County, and 
a son of David Ward the pioneer neighbor of Lieutenant Rees 
Bowen; Margaret married Thomas Gillespie, the first Gillespie to 

settle in .Tazewell County; Rebecca married Duff; Lily 

married/T A/ ' ^ ^ ^ ' Hildrith, of Kentucky; Louisa married John 
Thompson; and Henry married Elen Tate, daughter of Thomas 
Tate, and a neice of General William Camj^bell. Rees, the second, 
died without issue; and Henry and Ella Bowen (nee Tate) were 
the progenitors of all the Bowens who have since lived in Tazewell 
County. Their two sons were General Rees T. Bowen and Colonel 
Henry S. Bowen. General Bowen was distinguished in civil life 
and was a brigadier general of militia before the Civil War. Colonel 
Bowen was the gallant commainder of a regiment of cavalry that did 
splendid service for the Confederacy. 

THE WARD FAMILY. 

From the descendants of David Ward, who are now living in 
Tazewell County, I have been able to procure but very little infor- 
mation about their worthy ancestor. He was one of the most promi- 
nent and useful of the jDioneer settlers ; and I have fortunately found 
enough in the records of the county and certain publications to 
enable me to make proper notice of a man who had much to do with 
giving stability to the Clinch Valley settlements, and the creation 
and organization of Tazewell County. 

The Wards were of Scotch-Irish blood; and came to America 
from Ulster during the great exodus from Ireland that took place 
early in the eighteenth century. William Ward, the immediate 
ancestor of the Wards of Tazewell County, about 1730 left Ireland 
and settled in Pennsylvania. P^rom that province he migrated to 
the Valley of Virginia, and fixed his home in the present Augusta 
County where the village of Greenville is now located, about ten 
miles west of the city of Staunton. There he passed the remainder 
of his life and reared a family. In the year 1769, two of his sons, 
David and William, heard of the splendid country now known as 
Southwest Virginia, and they migrated to this section. William 
settled in the Black Lick in the present Wythe County ; and David 



and Southwest Virginia 411 

travelled on to the Clinch Valley and located in the Cove^ on the 
place where his great-great-grandson^ George Ward^ now lives. 

David Ward thus was made a neighbor of Rees Bowen, and he 
at once became a conspicuous figaire among the frontiersmen^ because 
of his intelligence and excellent courage. He was known as one of 
the best Indian fighters on the Clinch, and was a member of Captain 
Russell's company that participated in the battle at Point Pleasant. 
When the Revolution began he became a member of the militia 
company of which William Bowen was captain; and went to King's 
Mountain with Rees Bowen, where he fought with Campbell's rifle- 
men from the Holston and Clinch valleys. 

After Russell County was formed, David Ward was made a jus- 
tice of the peace for that county. When the county of Tazewell 
was erected he became, by operation of statute law, a justice of the 
peace of this county: and he was the first presiding justice of the 
county court. His son, John, was made the first county clerk of 
Tazewell. David Ward was chosen, along with Thomas Witten, 
Jr., to represent the county in the House of Delegates at the ses- 
sions of 1801-02, and 1802-03; and represented the county again at 
the sessions of 1809-10 and 1810-11. His son, John, also repre- 
sented the county in the same legislative body at the sessions of 
1812-13, 1813-14, 1814-16; and 1825-26. 

John Ward married Nancy Bowen, and had a very large family, 
in all ten children, as follows: Levicie, married William Barns; 
Jane, married Robert Gillespie; Rebecca, married William Craw- 
ford; Lily, married John Hill; Nancy, married Hargrave; 

Henry, married Sallie Wilson; Rees, married Levicie Richardson; 
Rufus, married Elizabeth Wilson; David and John never married. 

THE MOORES OF ABB's VALLEY. 

Bickley says that Captain James Moore settled in Abb's Valley 
in 1772, but I am satisfied he moved there as early as 1770. Bickley 
relied on tradition to such an extent that he is at fault in fixing most 
of the dates in connection with the settlements in the present Taze- 
well County. 

The Moores were of the Scotch-Irish people who lived in Ulster. 
James Moore, the immediate ancestor of the Moore's of Abb's Val- 
ley, left Ireland in 1726, and settled in Chester County, Pennsyl- 
vania. He married Jane Walker, daughter of John Walker, who 



412 



History of Tazewell County 



was one of the Scotch-Irish emigrants that came from Ireland and 
settled in Pennsylvania. After his marriage to Jane Walker, James 
Moore and his father-in-law moved with their families from Penn- 
sylvania to Rockbridge County, Virginia, then a part of Augusta 
County, and settled near the Jump Mountain. There Moore reared 
a family of five sons and five daughters. The sixth child and the 
second son of the James Moore, of Rockbridge, was Captain James 
Moore, who was killed by the Indians in Abb's Valley. Captain 
Moore married Martha Poage, whose parents then lived in Augusta, 
on the road between the Natural Bridge and the present town of 
Lexington. After their marriage they lived for several years on the 
same road, at a place which was subsequently kpown as Newel's 
Tavern. 

Absalom Looney, a kinsman of James Moore, came to this sec- 
tion of Virginia prior to 1770, on a hunting expedition; and also 
for the purpose of digging ginseng, which was, even at that time, 
very valuable for exportation to China and other Asiatic countries. 
He discovered the valley which has since been called Abb's Valley, 
and remained there for more than a year, living in a cave to escape 
discovery by the Indians. When Looney returned to Rockbridge 
he told James Moore of the rich lands and abundance of game that 
he saw in the valley. This so impressed Moore that he made an 
exploring tour to the place, and found it as described by Looney, 
"the very paradise of the hunter and grazier." He was a breeder 
of fine horses and saw that the abundance of bluegrass would sus- 
tain a large herd, and this, together with other attractions, induced 
him to arrange for moving his family there. The author of "The 
Captives of Abbs Vallej^," who was a grandson of James Moore, 
says in his Legend of Frontier Life : 

"In making his arrangements to take his family there, he went 
out in the spring accompanied by some labourers, built a cabin, 
planted a crop, and left an Englishman named Simpson, who had 
been an indentured servant in his family and was then free, but still 
remained in his employment, to cultivate the crop and enclose more 
land during; the summer." 



In the fall of 1770, James Moore moved his family out and fixed 
his residence at the place where the massacre of himself and other 
members of the family afterwards occurred. The place has ever 



and Southwest Virginia 413 

since remained in the possession of his descendants, and is now 
owned by his great-grandson, Oscar Moore. Captain Moore was 
accompanied by his brother-in-law, Robert Poage, the latter, with 
his family, locating about one mile from the Moores. Poage rer 
mained but a few years in the valley. When the Indians began to 
attack the settlements in 1774 he moved back to Rockbridge. This 
left the Moores completely isolated, their nearest neighbor being ten 
miles distant from them. 

Captain Moore, though aware of the dangers that threatened 
him and his family from attacks by the Indians, resolved to remain 
in the valley and face the dangers. When he came there with his 
family he brought out horses and cattle for breeding purposes, 
intending to pursue the life of a grazier and breeder of fine stock. 
He found some parts of the valley comparatively free of forest 
growth, and on these open spots bluegrass and wild pea vine grew 
in luxurious abundance. In the summer time his horses and cattle 
would feed and fatten upon the summer growth of herbage, and 
even in the winter time they required but little feeding, as there was 
an abundance of lodged grass to keep them in good condition. His 
horses and cattle increased rapidly in numbers, and at the time 
he was killed he had more than a hundred fine horses. 

With the purpose of averting any probable danger from attacks 
by the Indians, Captain Moore converted his cabin into a block- 
house. The doors were made of heavy timber, too thick for a rifle 
ball to penetrate, and were secured with heavy bars for inside 
fastenings. The windows were small and placed high in the walls, 
and had heavy wooden shutters, that could be quickly closed. Like 
all other frontier houses, this was equipped with loop-holes through 
which riflemen on the inside could shoot at the attacking enemy. 

Ownership of the entire Abb's Valley was one of the fond aspi- 
rations of Captain Moore. With this in view, he secured all the 
land he could luider settlers' laws then in existence in Virginia, and 
formulated plans for acquiring the balance of the valley by pur- 
chase. It is said that he was about to bring his cherished plans to 
a successful conclusion when he was killed by the Indians. 

The eager purpose of this brave pioneer to acquire a splendid 
estate to bequeath to his children did not, however, deter him from 
a full performance of his duties as a frontier citizen and soldier. 
His worth was recognized by both the civil and military authorities. 



414 History of Tazewell County 

and he quickly became a leader among the hardy pioneers who were 
industriously engaged in converting the wilderness regions of Taze- 
well into an agricultural and grazing country that would be sur- 
passed in excellence by none on this continent. 

James Moore served as a private in the army that Colonel 
Andrew Lewis marched to the mouth of the Kanawha in the fall of 
1774, and did his part in winning victory for the Virginians at the 
battle of Point Pleasant. He was commissioned captain of a com- 
pany of militia "on the waters of Bluestone" on the 3rd of April, 
1778; and in 1781 he led this company, which went with the rifle- 
men from Montgomery and Washington, under command of Colonel 
William Campbell, to the relief of General Greene in North Carolina. 
In the battle of Guilford Court House, Captain Moore, with his 
mountaineer riflemen, met the first charge of the British infantry; 
and he and his men won great distinction by their wonderful cour- 
age and superior marksmanship. 

But three of Captain Moore's children, James, Mary and Joseph, 
escaped death at the hands of the Indians. The latter was not in 
Abb's Valley at the time the dreadful tragedy was enacted. A 
short time prior to the raid made by the Shawnees, Joseph had 
gone with his father to Rockbridge to visit his grandfather Poage. 
He became sick with measles and his father had to return to Abb's 
Valley without him. When James and Mary returned from cap- 
tivity they found Joseph at their grandfather's in Rockbridge. 

James Moore, Jr., was captured in 1784 and remained in cap- 
tivity until the fall of 1789. In the spring of 1790, he and his sister 
Mary arrived at their grandfather's in Rockbridge. On the 16th of 
February, 1797, James married Barbara Taylor of Rockbridge, 
and very soon thereafter moved with his wife to Abb's Valley and 
settled upon the lands where his father had formerly lived. He 
had three children by his first wife, James Ruliford, born in 1799; 
Martha Poage, born in 1800; and William Taylor, born in 1802. 
Mrs. Moore died in 1802, shortly after the birth of her son William. 

James Ruliford Moore moved to Texas with his family after 
that State was admitted to the Union. Martha married Rev. Still, 
who in 1824 went to Kansas as a missionary to work among the" 
Indians. 

William Taylor Moore settled at the place in Abb's Valley 
where his o-randfather was killed in 1786. He married twice and 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 



415 



had children by each wife. His first wife was Matilda Peery, 
daughter of George Peery; and his second wife was Mary Barns, 
daughter of William Barns, of the Cove. 

Joseph Moore, son of Captain James Moore, married Rhoda 
Nicewander, of Rockbridge. He moved out to Tazewell in 1797, 
and settled in Wrights Valley, near where the present Bailey's 
Station on the Clinch Valley Railroad is now situated. He had one 
son, Harvey, and six daughters, Mattie, Mary Brown, Rhoda, Cyn^ 




William Moore, son of James Moore, the captive, was bom in 
March, 1802, and died in December, 1894. He was one of the best 
men Tazewell County ever produced. 

thia, Julia and Nancy. Harvey married his cousin Jane Moore, 
who after she became a widow married Charles Tiffany. She was 
a daughter of James Moore, the captive, by his second marriage. 
Mattie married her cousin, Joseph A. Moore; Mary Brown married 
William Shannon; and Rhoda married Elias Hale. Three of the 
daughters, Cynthia, Julia and Nancy died unmarried. 

Joseph Moore remained with his grandfather while his brother, 
James, and sister, Mary, were in captivity for nearly six years, 
and during that time had excellent opportunity to obtain a liberal 
education, as there were good schools in the vicinity of Mr. Poage's. 
Hence, when he settled in Wright's Valley he was far better 
educated than most of the men of his age then living in the bounds 



416 History of Tazewell County 

of the present Tazewell County. He was a skillful surveyor and 
an excellent scribe. 

When the county seat was located he laid the town off in lots ; 
and was made deputy clerk of the county court shortly after it 
was organized. Hundreds of his descendants are now residents of 
the county. 

When Captain Moore and his family were massacred he had a 
splendid herd of about one hundred horses. A number of them 
were colts of Yorick^ the Arabian stallion. Joseph Moore, a 
brother of the Captain, was then living in Kentucky. He came to 




Rose, a gray mare 29 years old in 1918, and the last knowTi direct 
descendant of the famous stallion "Yorick" owned by Capt. James 
Moore when the Indians massacred the Moore family. Yorrick killed 
three of the Indians who tried to ride him, and was killed by the 
Indians when they failed to subdue him. The boy sitting on the mare 
is Oscar Moore, Jr., and is the great-great-grandson of Capt. James 
Moore. The photograph of boy and mare was taken near the spot of 
the massacre of the Moores. 

Virginia and administered upon the estate of his deceased brother. 
When he returned to his home, he took a number of the horses from 
Abb's Valley, and disposed of them in Kentucky. It has been told, 
and it is a fact, that the colts of Yorrick had much to do with the 
production of the fine strain of horses from which Kentucky after- 
wards became famous. Some of Yorrick's colts were left in Abb's 
Valley. Above is shown the picture of a gray mare. She was 29 
years old when the photograph was made, and is the last known 
direct descendant of Yorrick. The mare is owned by Mr. O. B. 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 417 

Moore^ and the little boy seated on the mare is Oscar Moore, Jr., 
the son of O. B. Moore. The photograph of the mare was taken 
on the grounds of the Moore homestead near where the massacre of 
the Moore family occurred. 

THE HARMANS OF TAZEWELL. 

One of the greatest difficulties I have encountered in the prepa- 
ration of these sketches was in correctly distinguishing the several 
families of Harmans who were among the pioneer settlers of the 
Clinch Valley. There are many persons with the name Harman, 
who are descendants of the pioneers of that name, now living in 
this county; but they have furnished me with no family records 
from which 1 can draw any definite conclusions. Therefore, in 
writing about the pioneers of that name, I am compelled to rely 
for information upon the records that exist in the county clerk's 
office, and such facts as I have found in various histories, together 
with my personal acquaintance with these people for more than half 
a century. 

The Harmans came to America from Germany. Some of them 
settled in Pennsylvania, but those from whom most of the Tazewell 
Harmans are descended settled in North Carolina, near the present 
town of Salem in that State. 

The first Harmans that appear in the annals of this section were 
Adam Harman and his two sons, who were living on New River in 
1755 at the site of the present Eggleston's Springs, in Giles County. 
They were the men who discovered Mrs. Mary Ingles, after her 
thrilling escape from the Shawnee Indians, as she was making her 
way back to Draper's Meadows, an account of which is given in 
a preceding chapter of this book. Adam Harman first settled in 
Pennsylvania after he came to America, and from thence came to 
New River, by way of the Shenandoah and James River valleys. 
He was a kinsman, possibly a first cousin, of the three brothers, 
Mathias, Henry and Jacob Harman, who settled in 1771 about one 
and half miles east of the town of Tazewell, on the lands now owned 
by the heirs of the late Captain Wm. E. Peery. 

Bickley says that another Jacob Harman settled on Bluestone 

Creek in 1772. Thwaites, in his Dunmore's War, says: "Jacob 

Harman who settled on Bluestone, in 1771, probably was of the 

family of Adam, one of the early pioneers of New River." Captain 

TH.— 27. 



418 History of Tazewell County 

Dan Smith, who in 1774 was in command of all the militia forces 
and military defences on the frontier from Elk Garden to the 
Bluestone River, reported to Colonel Preston that, through fear of 
the Indians, Jacob Harman had moved his family "into the New 
River Settlement." Captain Smith also reported that, upon the 
recommendation of Thomas Maxwell, he had appointed one Israel 
Harman to act as a scout down Sandy Creek. These are all of the 
Harmans I find that came with the first settlers to the Clinch Valley. 

Henry Harman, who settled on the Clinch east of the town of 
Tazewell in 1771, had two sons, George and Mathias that were 
noted as hunters and Indian fighters. They were with their father 
in 1774 when he had his terrific encounter with seven Shawnees on 
Tug River. A graphic account of this encounter, taken from Bick- 
ley's History of Tazewell County, is published elsewhere in this 
history. Captain Henry, as he was afterwards known, received two 
severe wounds from arrows shot by an Indian in the battle on Tug- 
River. When struck in the breast with an arrow, Harman fell, and 
the Indians believed they had killed him. They subsequently 
boasted to whites, whom they had made captives, that they had 
killed "Old Skygusty," a name they had given the old man, for some 
unknown reason. 

Captain Henry Harman had another son, Henry Harman, Jr., 
who came to Tazewell with his father in 1771, and was then only 
nine years old. When he reached manhood he married and built 
him a home two miles northeast of Tazewell. The place was after- 
wards known as the "John G. Watts Place." The act passed in 
December, 1799, by the General Assembly of Virginia creating the 
county of Tazewell, directed that the first term of the county court 
should be held "at the house of Henry Harman, Junior," and this 
mandate was complied with. The late David Harold Peery, of 
Ogden, Utah, a grandson of Henry Harman, Jr., in May, 1895, 
wrote a letter to a lady relative who was seeking information about 
the Harman family; and from that letter the following paragraphs 
are copied: 

"Henry Harman, Jr., my grandfather, was born in North Caro- 
lina in 1762, and came to Tazewell with his father in 1771, and 
married my grandmother, Christina Harman, his cousin, a daughter 
of David Harman. Grandmother Christina Harman died in 1835. 
My grandfather, Henry Harman, built a large double log house in 



and Southwest Virginia 



419 



which the first court of the county (Tazewell) was held, in 1800. 
He was a very large man, weighing over 300 pounds, and 6 feet 
2 inches in height. To get him out of the house after he died they 
had to take the door and facing out. He was a man of great intel- 
lect, honorable and high-minded; and left an immense estate of 
lands, negroes and stock. He married my grandmother, Christina 
Harman, in 1784, and he died in 1808, honored, loved and respected 

by all. 

"The names of their children are as follows : Eleanor, my mother, 
who married David Peery; Daniel; Rhoda, who married John 




Major David Peery was one of the first generations born in the 
present bounds of Tazewell County. He was the son of John Peery, 
who settled near the forks of Clinch River in 1772. Major Peery was 
an excellent man and popular citizen. He was bom in 1777, the second 
year of the Revolution, and di^d in 1862. 

Gillespie ; Malvina, who married Alexander Harrison ; Nancy, who 
married Hezekiah Harman, Jr. ; Letitia, who married Addison 
Crockett ; Henry Wilburn Harman ; Christina, who married Samuel 
Laird." 

The David Harman mentioned by Mr. Peery may have been 
a brother of Henry Harman, Sr. ; and he must have resided else- 
where than in Clinch Valley, as Bickley makes no mention of him. 
It is very evident that most of the Harmans now living in Tazewell 
County are direct descendants of the three brothers, Henry, Matbias 



420 History of Tazewell County 

and Jacob, who settled on the Clinch in 1771; and of Jacob and 
Israel Harman, who were living on Bluestone in 1774. 

THE PEERYS IN TAZEWELL. 

Several of the pioneers bore the name Peery; and they were 
not only valuable co-workers with the Clinch Valley settlers in 
the pioneer days, but they and their descendants since the organi- 
zation of Tazewell County have been rated among the most worthy 
and useful citizens. The Peerys were of the Scotch-Irish blood 
and came to Pennsylvania during the great exodus of these people 
from Ulster. From Pennsylvania they moved to Augusta County, 
Virginia. The Peerys who settled in the Clinch Valley in 1772, or 
1773, were all born in that county. 

In 1773, Thomas, William and George, who were brothers, 
moved from Augusta County to what is now Tazewell County. 
They were sons of Thomas Peery and were raised on Back Creek 
near Staunton, Virginia. Thomas settled a short distance west of 
the present town of Tazewell near the place where his son, Harvey 
G. Peery, afterwards lived, and which is still owned and occupied 
by his grandson, Squire George Peery; William fixed his home at 
or near the place where the residence of the late Albert P. Gillespie 
now stands; and George settled in Abb's Valley. Each of these 
brothers kept their homes at the place they first located until they 
died. 

Thomas Peery married Margaret Dennis and they raised a 
family of eleven children, six sons and five daughters. They were: 
Jonathan, James, William, Thomas (Burke's Garden), Joseph, 
Harvey George, Mary, Rebecca, Permelia, Eleanor and Nancy. 
There are hundreds of their descendants now living in Tazewell 
County and adjoining counties, with many living in other States 
of the Union. Harvey George Peery, one of the sons of Thomas 
and Margaret Peery, represented the county of Tazewell in the 
Virginia House of Delegates at the session of 1844 and 1845. 

William Peery married Sallie Evans, a- sister of Jesse Evans, 
whose children were massacred by the Indians in 1779, at the old 
Buse Harman place, just west of the divide at Tiptop. When the 
county of Tazewell was created, William Peery gave thirteen acres 
of land for the county seat; and the public buildings — court house 
and jail — were erected thereon. During the Revolutionary War he 
did valiant service for his country in its successful struggle against 



and Southwest Virginia 



421 



British oppression. He accompanied George Rodgers Clark on his 
expedition to Illinois ; and was with Captain James Moore's comr 
pany in General Greene's campaign in North Carolina, and fought 
with the splendid riflemen from Washington and Montgomery coun- 
ties at the battle of Guilford Court House. 

William Peery had a large family. Most of his children, after 
marrying, went West. He had five sons, Robert, Evans, George, 




Residence of Major Hai-vey George Peery, son of Thomas Peery, 
the pioneer. It was built in 1838, and is located a short distance west 
of the corporate limits of Tazewell. 

Thomas, and Henry Fielding — and seven daughters — Sophia, 
Emily, Cosby, Polly, Nancy, Olivia and Cynthia. One of his 
daughters married John Wynne, son of William Wynne. John built 
the residence where the late Captain Wm. E. Peery lived, a mile 
and a half east of Tazewell. Wynne sold the place to 'Squire 
Tommie Peery in 1852, and moved with his family to Missouri. 
Thomas and Dr. Henry Fielding Peery, sons of William, spent their 
entire days in the land of their birth. Thomas was one of the most 
popular and useful citizens of the county. He was its representa- 
tive in the House of Delegates at the sessions 1819-20 and 1823-24; 
and he was a justice of the county court for a number of years. 
Dr. Henry Fielding Peery was one of the most eminent physicians 



422 History of Tazewell County 

of his daj', an assiduous student, and an able writer. Dr. Peery, 
because of his fine literary attainments, was persuaded to establish 
the first newspaper published in Tazewell, the Jeffersonville Demo- 
crat; and in 1851 he was the leading spirit in the organization of 
a society known as the Jeffersonville Historical Society. 

I have been unable to find much relative to the family and 
career of George Peery, the brother of Thomas and William, who 
settled in Abb's Valley. In examining the old records of Mont- 
gomery County, I found in the Surveyors "Entry Book" of that 
county that in the year 1782 George Peery entered 400 acres of 
land on Bluestone Creek between Jno. Davidson's and Jno. Comp- 
ton's. And the records of the county court of Tazewell County 
show that he was a member of the first court held in June, 1800, and 
helped to organize the county. He had previously been a justice 
of the peace in Wythe County, before Abb's Valley became a part 
of Tazewell, and by operation of statute law was constituted a jus- 
tice of Tazewell County. He was a beautiful penman, as his signa- 
ture to orders of the county court are so fine as to attract special 
attention. He raised a family in Abb's Valley, but I have failed to 
learn the number and names of his children, or what became of them. 

In the year 1773 John Peery, a cousin of Thomas, William and 
George, settled a short distance west of the present county seat of 
Tazewell, near Plum Creek. Two of his brothers, Solomon and 
James, settled near him and lived in the community for several years. 
Solomon moved with his family to some place on Big Sandy River, 
and James moved to Tennessee. This John Peery was sometimes 
called "Short Johnnie," to distinguish him from a kinsman also 
named John, and who lived on the Clinch. In the records of the 
county court I find that "Short Johnnie" is mentioned as "John 
Peery, Distillery". He had a distillery where he made apple and 
peach brandy, and corn whiske3\ John and his son, Thomas, went 
with Captain James Moore's company to North Carolina in 1781, 
and were in the engagement at Guilford Court House. Thomas, the 
son, was killed in the battle, and Jolm, the father, was desperately 
wounded, receiving fifty-four saber cuts that were inflicted by 
Tarleton's brutal British troopers while he was lying helpless on 
the ground. "Short Johnnie" had a large family, but I have only 
the name of one in addition to Thomas, who was killed. There was 
a son named John, who lived on Clear Fork, and he was known 



and Southwest Virginia 



423 



as "John Peery, Silversmith." It is certain that the Peerys who 
lived on Plum Creek were the descendants of "Short Johnnie." 

There was another John Peery who came here in 1773. He 
tarried for a while on Clear Fork; and then moved on to the Clinch^ 
where he settled permanently near the fork of the river, one and a 
half miles northeast of the present county seat. There he acquired 
a large boundary of land, which is considered by many persons the 
most valuable per acre of any now in the county. 




This was the home of Major David Peery, built by him in 1805, 
and one of the oldest houses now occupied as a residence in Tazewell 
County. It is now owned and occupied by Samuel C. Peery, son of 
Capt. Wm. E. Peery. 

This John Peery was distinguished by the name of "Long John," 
and he is also mentioned in the county records as "John Peery, 
Blacksmith." He was born in Augusta County, Virginia, where he 
married Nancy Martin in 1772. Their children were all born in 
the Clinch Valley and their names were: James, David, Catherine, 
Jane, Archibald, George, and Jonathan. Of these, two of his sons, 
David and George, remained in Tazewell County and settled on the 
lands they inherited from their father. The others moved to Ken- 
tucky and Missouri. "John Peery. Blacksmith" died at Burksville, 
Kentucky, at the home of one of his children, about the year 1817. 



424 History of Tazewell County 

Major David Peery, son of John Peery, "Blacksmith", was 
born April 17th, 1778, in the Clinch settlements. In December, 
1806, he married Eleanor Harman, daughter of Henry Harman, Jr. 
Soon after their marriage he built a comfortable log dwelling on the 
Clinch about one mile east of the railway station at North Taze- 
well. It is now the residence of Samuel Cecil Peery, and is one of 
the oldest houses still used as a dwelling in the county. Major 
Peery has a large number of descendants in Tazewell County and 
at Ogden, Utah, where his son, D. Harold Peery, died a few years 
ago at a venerable age. 

THE THOMPSON FAMILY. 

Bickley, in his history of Tazewell County, says nothing about 
the coming of the Thompsons to the Clinch Valley; and the male 
descendants of the pioneers of that name who are now living in 
the county seem to have little knowledge of when their ancestors 
came here and what they did after they became settlers. From 
Mrs. George W. Gillespie, of Tazewell, who is a great-grandaughtcr 
of William Thompson, a pioneer ; and Mrs. C. W. George, of Albany, 
Missouri, who is a great-great-grandaughter of the said William 
Thompson, I have procured very satisfactory information. With 
this, and such data as the county records supply, I will do the best 
I can in preparing a sketch of the Thompsons who were of the 
pioneers. 

The Thompsons are of the Scotch-Irish people, who migrated 
from Ulster and settled in Pennsylvania. They came from that 
province to the Valley of Virginia, and thence to the Clinch Valley. 
In the Surveyors "Plot Book" of Fincastle County, which book is 
now kept with the records of Montgomery County, at Christians- 
burg, I find that Captain Dan Smith, assistant surveyor of Fincastle 
Count}^ in the year 1774 surveyed for one William Thompson a 
tract of 229 acres of land, situated "on the north waters of the 
South Foi-k of Clinch River, Beginning at a black walnut at the foot 
of Morris' Knob." The date of this survey indicates that William 
Thompson certainly came to the Clinch Valley as early as 1774, 
and possibly previous to that date. If he ever lived on this tract, 
which he purchased from the Loyal Company, there is no evidence 
now in existence of his having such residence. He did. however, 
acquire under a settlers' right a large boundary of valuable land in 



and Southwest Virginia 



425 



the present Thompson Valley, six miles above Morris' Knob and 
built his home at the place where Milton Thompson, his great-grand- 
son, now lives, about six miles south of the town of Tazewell. 

It appears that William Thompson, the first, was twice married. 
He had two sons, John and Archibald, by his first wife; and three 
or more sons by his second wife. One of the sons by his second 
wife was known as "Lawyer James Thompson." He was eccentric, 
but a man of ability, and was the first Commonwealth's Attorney for 
Tazewell Countv. Another son of the second familv was named 




Col. Archibald Thompson, one of the first generation bom in 
Tazewell County. He was the son of John Thompson and a grandson 
of Lieutenant Rees Bowen. 

William. He was called "Roan Billie", because of the peculiar 
color of his hair, which was red and gray in spots, somewhat similar 
to the hair of a roan horse. A third son of the second marriage was 
Andrew. He lived at the old home place after his father's death ; 
and he erected the tombstones that mark the grave of his father 
and the graves of other kindred in the Thompson family graveyard. 
One of these stones records the fact that William Thompson was 
born in the year 1722, and died in 1798; and another stone gives 
the date of the birth and death of "Lawyer James Thompson." 

John Thompson, son of William, married Louisa Bowen. She 
was a daughter of Lieutenant Rees Bowen, who was killed in the 
battle at King's Mountain. Archibald, his brother, married Rebecca 



426 History of Tazewell County 

Peery, a daughter of George Peery, who settled in Abb's Valley, 
and who was one of the justices of the first county court of Taze- 
well County. 

John Thompson, after his marriage, settled in Thompson Valley, 
about three miles below Plum Creek Gap. He had four sons, 
William, James, Archibald and Walter, and several daughters. 
William, son of John, married Matilda Witten, daughter of James 
Witten, the famous scout. This William Thompson established his 
home at the foot of Clinch Mountain on the old wagon road which 
crossed the mountain to Poor Valley, and thence down through 
Laurel Gap, by Broad Ford, and on to Preston's Salt Works. His 
three brothers had their homes above his place on the road that 
then passed up the valley to the Plum Creek Gap. They each had 
large and valuable boundaries of land, most of which still remains 
in the possession of their descendants. 

Archibald Thompson, son of the first William, after his mar- 
riage with Rebecca Peery settled in the upper section of Thompson 
Valley, at the place where Joseph Neal now lives. Archibald had 
four sons — William, George, John and James. He acquired an 
extensive boundary of land in the head of the valley, which he 
divided between his sons, William, George and James. Nearly all 
this land is still owned by his descendants. In 1813 he purchased 
from Captain James Patton Thompson a tract of three hundred 
acres of land in Burke's Garden, and gave it to his son John. The 
tract embraced the greater part of the four hundred acre boundary 
upon which James Burke built his cabin in 1753 or 1754. Rufus 
Thompson, grandson of Major Archie, as he was called, now 
owns and lives upon this noted and valuable farm. _ 

THE BARNS FAMILY. 

Robert Barns, the progenitor of all the people of that name in 
Tazewell County, was an Irishman by blood and birth. He was 
born about the middle of the eighteenth century and left the 
Emerald Isle when he was a mere youth. Tradition says his depar- 
ture from the land of his birth was occasioned by an escapade in 
which he and several mischievous companions succeeded in breaking 
up an Irish Wake — in that day a very grievous offense with the 
peasantry of Ireland. The young Irish emigrant located for a 
brief while in Maryland after he came to America, and then moved 
on to the present Rockbridge County, Virginia. From tKence, he 



and Southwest Virginia 427 

came to the Clincli Valley. His occupation was that of school- 
master, a class badly needed in that day in these regions. While 
engaged in teaching the boys and girls of the neighborhood, he took 
advantage of the liberal settlers' laws of Virginia and acquired what 
is now a splendid landed estate in the Cove, nearly all of which 
still remains in the possession of two of his great-grandsons, Wil- 
liam O. and Joseph G. Barns. 

Robert Barns came here about the time the Revolutionary War 
was drawing to a conclusion. His wife was Grace Brown, and there 
was a peculiarity in the structure of her hands that continues to 
mark many of her descendants, even unto the third generation. Her 
fingers had no joints below the second, or middle, joints. It is said 
that her father and brothers and sisters had hands similarly formed. 
Robert and Grace Barns had but three children at the time 
of his death, two sons and one daughter. They were William and 
John, and the daughter, whose name I have not found, married 
John Goodwin. Robert Barns died in 1802, and his will is one of 
the first recorded in the Will Book of this county. 

William Barns, son of Robert and Grace Barns, married Levicie 
Ward, daughter of John Ward, the first clerk of Tazewell County, 
and grandaughter of David Ward, the pioneer. He inherited a 
large share of his father's valuable estate. During his entire life, 
after reaching manhood, he was one of the most prominent citizens 
of the county; and he represented Tazewell County in the Virginia 
House of Delegates at the sessions of 1829 and 1830. He lived 
through the entire period of the Civil War, and gave his earnest 
sympathy and support to the Confederate cause. Though too old 
to perform military service, he had three sons who served in the 
Confederate Army. Clinton Barns had the rank of captain; Oscar 
was lieutenant of Company D, 23rd Virginia Battalion of Infantry, 
and John served as a private in the same company. When the 
small Federal army under command of General Burbridge, in 
December, 18641, was retreating after being beaten by the Confed- 
erates at the Salt Works, a party of stragglers went to the house of 
'Squire Barns for the purpose of securing loot. One of the ruffians, 
without provocation, shot the venerable man, in the presence of his 
family. The wound was in the breast and was at first considered 
fatal, but the old gentleman recovered, and remained active in body 
and mind until he died in 187-. 



428 History of Tazewell County 

William and Levicie Barns raised a very large family which 
consisted of four sons and six daughters. All of these, except one 
daugliter^ Rebecca, married and raised large families. Robert 
Barns, the pioneer, has more than a hundred descendants now liv- 
ing in Tazewell, among whom are found many of the best citizens 
of the county. 

THE GILLESPIES OF TAZEWELL. 

The Gillespies of Tazewell County are of Scotch-Irish ancestry. 
Their ancestors came from Ulster, and first settled in Pennsylvania. 
They moved from that province and located in the part of Western 
North Carolina now known as East Tennessee. 

In July, 1780, Colonel Charles McDowell and other Whig 
patriots of the Carolinas were being hard pressed by Major Fer- 
guson and his Tory and Provincial forces in the Catawba and Broad 
River valleys. The Carolinians appealed to Colonel Isaac Shelby 
to come to their assistance with a volunteer force from the Holston 
and Watauga settlements. He heeded the call and marched 
promptly with two hundred mounted riflemen to the assistance of his 
compatriots beyond the Alleghanies. Thomas Gillespie, a very 
young man, was then living in the Watauga Valley. He was one of 
the band of two hundred that went with Shelby to the Carolinas, 
and did valiant service in the campaign against the Provincials and 
Tories who were under command of Ferguson and were devastating 
the country. 

GillesiDie was with Shelby when he captured Captain Patrick 
Moore and his Tory garrison of ninety-four men at Thickety Fort 
on the 30th of July, 1780, and he was in the several small battles 
that Shelby's men had with the Provincials and Tories. In the fight 
at Musgrove's Mill on the Enoree River, August 18th, 1780, there 
were some extraordinary feats of marksmanship by certain of 
Shelby's riflemen. After the Provincials and Tories were routed, 
and were being pursued across the river, one of the Tory riflemen, 
who had crossed the stream, sheltered himself behind a tree to shoot 
at the Americans as they crossed at the rocky ford. The tree, how- 
ever, did not completely conceal the body of the Tory. Noticing 
this, Thomas Gillespie quickly leveled his rifle on the Tory's par- 
tially exposed body and at the crack of the rebel's rifle the Tory bit 
the dust. 



and Southwest Virginia 429 

When Colonels Campbell, Shelby and Sevier, on the 26th o£ 
September, 1780, marched from Sycamore Shoals for the Carolinas 
to answer with rifle shots the insolent message sent them by Major 
Patrick Ferguson, one of the men who marched with them was 
Thomas Gillespie. He was at the battle of King's Mountain; and, 
no doubt, did his duty there as he had at Musgrove's Mill the pre- 
ceding August. It is more than probable that on the march to 
and from King's Mountain, Thomas Gillespie was in some way 
associated with the men from the Clinch, and from them learned of 
the very fertile lands and other attractions of this beautiful country. 
A few years after the war he left his home in the Watauga Valley 
and journeyed to the Clinch Valley; and took up his residence 
in the immediate neighborhood where David Ward was then living, 
and where Rees Bowen was living before he marched to his death 
at King's Mountain. 

Soon after he came to the Clinch settlements he married Mar- 
garet Bowen, daughter of Lieutenant Rees Bowen; and established 
his home in the Cove, at the foot of Clinch Mountain, on or near 
the spot where W. J. Gillespie now has his residence. There he 
acquired ownership of a large and valuable boundary which has 
ever since been owned by his descendants ; and is now owned and 
occupied by W. J. Gillespie, his great-great-grandson. Thomas and 
Margaret Gillespie reared a large family. They had five sons, — 
John, Rees B., Henry, William and Robert, and two daughters. 
They have a large number of descendants, perhaps a thousand, in 
Tazewell, and throughout the United States. 

THE WYNNES. 

William Wynne, who settled at Locust Hill, one . and a half 
miles east of the present town of Tazewell, and built a fort there, 
was one of the most interesting characters among the first settlers. 
He was a Quaker, and he took no part in any offensive movements 
made by his fellow-pioneers against the Indians. His fort, it seems, 
was built purely as a haven of safety for his family and the families 
of his neighbors. Any person who is sufficiently interested to go 
upon the ground where it stood will find that it was admirably 
situated for defensive purposes. The stockade that inclosed the 
fort was so arranged as to bring within the inclosure the head of 
the splendid spring that gushes from a cave at the rear of Mr. 



ik^ 



430 History of Tazewell County 

George A. Martin's residence. This enabled the occupants of the 
fort to get an ample supply of water without going outside the stock- 
ade when the Indians were hanging around. 

There is no record obtainable that tells from whence William 
Wynne came when he moved to the Clinch Valley. Being a Quaker, 
it is reasonable to conclude that he came here from Pennsylvania, 
possibly by way of the Shenandoah Valley. His grave, which can 
be found in the Peery graveyard, immediately adjacent to the spot 
where his fort stood, is marked by a marble tombstone on which 
I recently found the following inscription: 

"William Wynne 
Born August 10th 1729 
Died July 8th 1808." 

His will is recorded in Will Book No. 1 of Tazewell County and 
reveals the fact that he was twice married. By his first wife he had 
three daughters — Ruth, Orphy Edward, and Sallie Jane; and four 
sons — Jonah, Elkanah, Oliver and Harman. There is no record 
in Tazewell which tells the maiden name of his first wife. It may 
be possible that she was a Harman, as that name was given one of 
her sons ; and William Wynne obtained the Locust Hill tract from 
the Harmans, who first settled there when they came to the Clinch. 

In his will, the old Quaker mentions his second wife as "Phillis". 
Her maiden name was Whitley. By this wife he had eight sons, all 
of whom are mentioned in his will. There names were: John, 
William, Samuel, Robert, Harry, Peter, James and Miner; and a 
number of daughters. He must have been a thrifty and industrious 
man, as he accumulated a large estate, both real and personal ; and 
made ample provision, either bj'^ advancements before his death or 
by bequests in his will, for each of his numerous children, said to 
be thirty-two in number. To his son Miner, he gave his "land lying 
in Burk's Garden." The Burke's Garden Wynnes are the descend- 
ants of Miner Wynne. William Wynne in writing his name made 
'e' the last letter of the name. Why his descendants dropped the 
"e" from the name is not known. 

John Wynne married Olivia Peery, daughter of William Peery, 
the pioneer. She was the sister of 'Squire Tommie and t)r. Field- 
ing Peery. Nearly a hundred j^ears ago John Wynne built the 
house which the late Captain Wm. E. Peery and his widow occupied 



and Southwest Virginia 



431 



as a residence for more than sixty years, located one and a half 
miles east of Tazewell. In 1852, John Wynne sold the place 
to 'Squire Tommie Peery, who gave it to his son, William Edward. 
Mrs. Kate Cecil Peery, the venerable widow of Captain Peery made 
it her home until her death on May 8th, 1919. Olivia Wynne, wife 
of John, is buried in the Peery graveyard. Hei* husband, with his 
remaining family, moved to Missouri in 1852, after he sold the 




.S.^*^^- 



;v;^--^ 






The above is the first brick house erected in Tazewell County. It 
was built for John Wynne over a hundred years ago; and in 1852 it 
became the home of the late Captain Wm. E. Peery. Perhaps it is 
the most noted place in the county, and many historic incidents cluster 
about the lovely old home. Wm. E. Peery, Jr., son of Captain Peery, 
now owns the property; and it is likely to remain a possession of the 
Peery family for many future generations. 

Locust Hill tract. There are none of the Wynnes left in Tazewell, 
except the descendants of Miner and Oliver Wynne. The latter 
located in Burke's Garden after his father's death. William Wynne 
also owned six hundred and sixty acres of land in Powell's Valley 
in Lee County. These lands he bequeathed to his five sons, Samuel, 
Robert, Henry, Peter and James. The Wynns now living in Lee 
Countj' are the descendants of William Wynne, the Clinch Valley 
pioneer. It is more than probable that William Wynne was the 
wealthiest man in Tazewell at the time of his death The appraise- 



432 History of Tazewell County 

ment of his personal estate amounted to the sum of $2,603.29 ; and 
he owned thousands of acres of the choicest lands in this county. 

THE MAXAVELL FAMILY. 

One of the pioneer families that figured prominently in the 
early history of the Upper Clinch Valley, is the Maxwells. James 
Maxwell, who was of the Scotch-Irish blood, came from the prov- 
ince of Ulster to America and settled in Pennsylvania early in the 
eighteenth century. He married a Miss Roberts, and moved to 
that part of Augusta County, Virginia, now embraced in the county 
of Rockbridge. Three of his sons, Thomas, James and Robert, 
were among the first settlers in the present Tazewell County. 
Thomas and James settled on Bluestone, not very far from the 
present town of Graham; and Robert located near Plum Creek, 
about two miles west of present town of Tazewell. They came 
here about 1771 or 1772. 

Thomas Maxwell has been so frequently mentioned in preced- 
ing pages of this book that it is hardly necessary to recount his deeds 
of daring. He not only had frequent encounters with the Indians, 
but was with Lieutenant Rees Bowen at the battle of King's Moun- 
tain, where he acted with such gallantry that he was made a cap- 
tain of militia in Washington County, he having located on the 
North Fork of Holston River, after his return from King's Moun- 
tain. The brave pioneer lost his life while assisting in the rescue 
of the wife and children of Thomas Ingles, who had been made 
captives in Burke's Garden by a band of Shawnee Indians. If 
Thomas Maxwell left any descendants, there is no record or tradi- 
tional evidence by which the author can locate them. 

James Maxwell moved from the Bluestone settlements and 
located on Clinch River, somewhere westward of the present county 
seat of Tazewell. He did excellent service as a soldier and scout 
in the war with the Indians in 1774, and also in tlie Revolutionary 
War. When Tazewell County was organized in 1800, James Max- 
well was made the first sheriff of the county. The records of the 
county show that he was a very active and influential citizen. He 
had a family but it has been impossible to get any information about 
his descendants. It is probable that they all left the county. 

Robert Maxwell, who settled on Plum Creek, had eight children. 
Their names were as follows : Robert, Mary, John, Margaret, James, 



and Southwest Virginia 433 

Jennie, Mattie and Elizabeth. Jennie and Mattie were killed by 
the Indians when the savages were making one of their bloody 
attacks upon the Clinch settlements. Bickley says nothing about 
this tragic incident. Evidently the girls were very young, and the 
murder must have occurred in 1780 or 1781. The Indians made 
frequent visits to the Clinch settlements during those years, while 
numbers of the best fighting men were away, at King's Mountain 
in 1780, and at Guilford Court House in 1781. Robert Maxwell's 
cabin stood south of the road, and opposite the residence of the late 
Captain James S. Peery. Some of the stones of the cabin chimney 
still remain on the ground. 

Margaret, daughter of Robert and Mary Maxwell, married 
David Whitley. He built a grist mill on the site now occupied by 
the Star Milling Company at North Tazewell; and he built the 
stone house for a dwelling that is now a part of the residence of 
John D. Peery at North Tazewell, Margaret Maxwell was the 
ancestress of all the Whitley's who have since resided in that 
vicinity. 

James Maxwell, son of Robert, the pioneei*, married Mary Writ- 
ten, who was a daughter of Jeremiah Witten, son of Thomas Wit- 
ten, the pioneer. He was a scholarly man, and died in 1866, aged 
eighty-six years. His wife, Mary Witten Maxwell, died in 1873 at 
the age of ninety-three years. They had three sons and two daugh- 
ters. Robert, one of their sons, married Margaret Bates, and he 
died in 1904, at which time he was in his ninety-seventh year. He 
was the father of the venerable James Maxwell who is now living 
at Maxwell, six miles west of the town of Tazewell. His residence 
is the stone house built by Burdine Deskins at about the same time 
David Whitley built his stone dwelling at North Tazewell. 



TH.-28. 



434 History of Tazewell County 

APPENDIX B TO PIONEER PERIOD 



INDIAN MASSACRES 

MASSACRES BY THE INDIANS MANY HORRIBLE OUTRAGES INFLICTED 

UPON THE CLINCH VALLEY SETTLEMENTS. 

P'or a period of eighteen years the Upper Clinch Valley settle- 
ments were greatly annoyed with repeated attacks by the Indians; 
and during that time a number of tragic incidents occurred to 
impair the contentment of the pioneer settlers. Beginning with the 
massacre of the Henry family, in 1774, the Indians continued, at 
intervals, until 1792, to make raids into the territory which was 
later formed into Tazewell County, in many instances inflicting 
horrible outrages upon the inhabitants. Dr. Bickley in his history 
has very graphically related all that he could gather from tradition, 
and from records, about the massacres committed in Tazewell by the 
red men; and the most diligent investigations on my part have 
failed to reveal but few other outrages of sufficient moment to 
warrant mention in this book. I have, however, from records inac- 
cessible to Bickley, found some of the errors and omissions of Taze- 
well's first historian, and will make the necessary corrections as 
occasion requires. 

MASSACRE OF HENRY FAMILY. 

As previously stated, John Henry and his family were the 
first victims of the hostile savages who invaded the Upper Clinch 
regions, in what is now known as Tazewell County. Bickley says 
that Henry settled in Thompson Valley in the spring of 1771, and 
that he and his family were killed in May, 1776. There are two 
errors in this latter statement. The tragedy took place on the 8th 
of September, 1774, and not in May 1776. Major Arthur Camp- 
bell, who was in command of all the military forces and stations in 
Fincastle County, west of New River, on the 9th of September, 
1774, made a report to Colonel Preston, county lieutenant, in which 
he said the attack was made upon Henry and his family the day 
previous — that is on the 8th of September, 1774. 



and Southwest Virginia 435 

John Henry was then living on the south side of Rich Mountain, 
in Thompson Valley, a short distance east o£ Plum Creek Gap. He 
had purchased a tract of land at that point from the Loyal Com- 
pany. In a recent examination of the Fincastle County records, 
that are kept in the clerk's office of Montgomery County, I found 
the following recorded on page 79 of "Plot Book No. 1." 

"Surveyed for John Henry 167 acres of Land lying in Fincastle 
County on the north waters of the South Fork of Clinch River 
(agreeable to an order of Council of the 16th of Deer. 1773, being 
a part of the Loyal Company grant) & bounded as follows: 

"Beginning at a black walnut at foot of Rich Mountain, running 
thence S 84 E 63 Poles to a Hicory S 36 W 70 to a Hicory on a 
Hill, S 7 E 57— to a Spanish Oak S 60 W 153— to a Chestnut N 30 
W 74 to a small Sugar Tree S 36 W 38 — to a white Walnut and 
Sugar Tree N 40 W 28— to a Sugar Tree & Lynn N 62I/2 E 276 
Poles to the Beginning. Daniel Smith asst. 

5th May 1774 Wm. Preston S F C" 

This survey shows beyond a doubt that tradition has located 
accurately the place where the first massacre by the Indians occurred 
in Tazewell County. In 1852, when Bickley wrote his history, the 
Henry land was owned by James S. Witten. It is now owned by 
Archie Thompson Bickley says: 

"The circumstances attending this melancholy occurrence, are 
not sufficiently clear. The simple fact of the massacre is beyond 
doubt. But the old gentleman who furnished me with the circum- 
stances, showed such marked evidences of a decaying state of mind, 
that I fear the tale is not altogether as authentic as we might desire." 

It seems that the attack was made by the Indians, who were lying 
in wait, just after daylight and Bickley details the circumstances 
as follows: 

"Mr. Henry stepped to the door and unbolted it, with the inten- 
tion, no doubt, of looking abroad, and yawning in the open air. 
Stepping in the door, he stretched himself up to inhale the sweet 
odors of the morning breeze, when a party of Indians, who lay near, 
fired a gun, and he fell on his face in the yard. He wore on the 
waistbands of his pantaloons, a large metal button, which must have 



436 History of Tazewell County 

served as a target to the Indian's gun, as the ball passed directly 
through it, and into Mr. Henry's body." 

The savages then rushed over the supposed dead body of Henry 
into the house, where they tomahawked and killed and scalped Mrs. 
Henry and all of her children, except one little boy, who was made 
a prisoner. Henry rose to his feet, and, knowing he could do noth- 
ing to relieve his family, ran into the woods and hid ; and, according 
to Bickley, tried to make his way to the house of his nearest neigh- 
bor, a Mr. Martin. Bickley says that Martin had started to Rich 
Valley with his family, and met Mr. Henry, who was so desperately 
wounded that he was crawling on his hands and knees to warn his 
neighbors of the presence of the Indians in the community. Martin 
put Henry on a horse and took him to the Cove where he died in a 
few hours and was buried on the farm of William Barns, Esq. He 
further says that: 

"A company was soon collected and preparations made to follow 
the Indians, who, it was supposed, had carried off the rest of the 
family. But when they arrived at the fatal spot, the family, con- 
sisting of a wife and six children, were found murdered, scalped, 
and piled up after the manner of a log heap, on a ridge a short dis- 
tance from the house. One child was not found, a little boy, whom 
it was supposed had been carried off. A large hole was opened, 
which became a common grave for the mother and her unoffending 
children. 

"The identical spot on which Henry was buried, could not be 
marked for a number of years — a few years ago, a grave was opened 
near the supposed place, which accidently proved to be the very 
spot on which Henry was buried, which was known from the pres- 
ence of boards and puncheons, which had been substituted for a 
coffin, and the identical button through which the fatal ball passed. 
The button is now in possession of some one in this county." 

"The old gentleman" who, from tradition, related to Dr. Bick- 
ley the circumstances connected with the massacre of the Henry 
family was pretty accurate as to what he told. He was mistaken 
as to the person who discovered the wounded man and played the 
part of the good Samaritan; and was mistaken in the name of the 
man who was taking his family to Rich Valley in the present Smyth 
County. Major Campbell reported the tragedy the day after it 



and Southwest Virginia 437 

occurred. He reported "Old John Hamilton" as the person wlio 
found Henry after he was wounded; and named John Bradshaw 
as the man who had sent his family to Rich Valley. The report of 
Major Campbell has been very freely detailed in a preceding chap- 
ter, and it will be useless to repeat it here. 

THE EVANS FAMILY. 

From the time that John Henry and his family were killed, 
until eight years after the Revolution was ended, the settlers of 
the Upper Clinch Valley were in constant dread of attacks by the 
Indians. But, if Bickley is correct in the dates he gives, no other 
attacks were made upon the inhabitants of Tazewell after the mass- 
acre of the Henry family until the third year of the Revolution. 
There were two causes for the temporary immunity our ancestors 
enjoyed from attacks by the savages. One cause was the excellent 
preparation the inhabitants had made by building block-houses and 
forts, and the organization of a splendid corps of scouts that was 
kept constantly on duty to watch and report any invasion by the 
hostiles. The Tazewell men were known to be the best Indian 
fighters on the Virginia frontiers, and the savages dreaded and 
avoided encounters with them. Another cause for the temporary 
relief was the determined eflorts of the Indians to drive the settlers 
from Kentucky, which compelled them to concentrate all their forces 
for the execution of that purpose. Occasionally small parties of 
the red men would slip in for robbery, and sometimes they would 
take a prisoner, but no other massacre occurred until 1779. 

In 1773, John Evans and his son Jesse moved their families 
from Amherst County, Virginia, and settled at the head of the north 
fork of Clinch River, some eight miles northeast of the present 
town of Tazewell. John Evans located at the Locust Bottom and 
Jesse established his home about one mile east of his father's where 
Buze Harman afterwards lived, just west of the village of Tiptop. 

In 1777, a small band of Shawnees came to the head of the 
Clinch and made John Evans a captive and took him to their towns 
in Ohio. From there he was sent to Canada, and either made his 
escape, or was ransomed, and went to Philadelphia. Jesse Evans 
heard of his arrival in Philadelphia and went there in the spring 
of 1778 and brought him home. Bickley says: 



438 History of Tazewell County 

"In the summer of 1779^ Jesse Evans left his house with six 
or eight hired men, for the purpose of executing some work at a dis- 
tance from home. As they carried with them various farming 
implements, their guns were left at the house, where Mrs. Evans 
was engaged weaving a piece of cloth. Her oldest daughter was 
filling quills for her; while the remaining four children were either 
at play in the garden or gathering vegetables. 

"The garden was about sixty yards from the house, and as no 
sawmills were in existence at that day in this county, slab-boards 
were put up in the manner called 'wattling' for palings. These 
were some six feet long, and made what is called a close fence. 
Eight or ten Indians, who lay concealed in a thicket near the gar- 
den, silently left their hiding places, and made their way 
unobserved, to the back of the garden ; there removing a few boards, 
they bounded through and commenced the horrid work of killing 
and scalping the children. The first warning Mrs. Evans had was 
their screams and cries. She ran to the door, and beheld the sicken- 
ing scene, with such feelings as only a mother can feel. 

"Mrs. Evans was a stout, athletic woman, and being inured to 
the hardships of the times, with her to will was to do. She saw 
plainly that on her exertions alone could one spark of hope be 
entertained for the life of her 'first born.' An unnatural strength 
seemed to nerve her arm, and she resolved to defend her surviving 
child to the last extremity. Rushing into the house she closed the 
door, which being too small left a crevice, through which in a few 
seconds an Indian introduced his gun, aiming to pry open the door, 
and finish the bloody work which had been so fearfully begun. 
Mrs. Evans had thrown herself against the door to prevent the 
entrance of the savages, but no sooner did she see the gun-barrel 
than she seized it, and drew it so far in as to make it available for 
a lever in prying to the door. The Indians threw themselves against 
the door to force it open, but their efforts were unavailing. The 
heroic woman stood to her post, well knowing that her life depended 
upon her own exertions. Tlie Indians now endeavored to wrest the 
gun from her ; in this they likewise failed. Hitherto she had 
worked in silence ; but as she saw no prospect of the Indians relin- 
quishing their object, she began to call loudly for her husband, as 
if he really were near. It had the desired effect; they let go the 
gun, and hastily left the house, while Mrs. Evans sat quietly down 



and Southwest Virginia 439 

to await a second attack; but the Indians, who had perhaps seen 
Mr. Evans and his workmen leave the house, feared he might be 
near, and made oif with all speed." 

After the Indians left, a man by the name of Goldsby stepped 
up to the door, but as soon as Mrs. Evans told him of the attack by 
the savages he ran swiftly away through fear of the Indians. It 
was told that he exerted himself so violently in making his escape 




The old house, that is partially shown behind the stack of wood, 
is near the spot where Major Taylor's cabin stood, to which Mrs. 
Evans and her daug'hter fled for refuge. This old house was built 
and occupied by Major Taylor after the Revolutionary War. It stands 
a short distance north of the residence of the late W. G. Mustard, now 
the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Henry S. Bowen. The persons 
shown sawing wood are Mr. Mustard and his grandson, Grat Mustard 
Bowen. The latter is now a grown man and voting citizen of the 
county. 

that he brought on hemorrhage of the lungs, from which he was a 
long time recovering. Goldsby was one of the very few cowards 
that were among the pioneer settlers on the Clinch. 

Mrs. Evans, armed with the gun she had taken from the Indians, 
determined to go with her little daughter to Major John Taylor's. 
He lived two miles west of the Evans home, at the location of the 
present home of Mrs. Henry S. Bowen. and about the same distance 



440 History of Tazewell County 

northwest of Witten's Mill. In a short while after Mrs. Evans and 
her daughter started to Major Taylor's, her husband returned to his 
house. He supposed his wife and children were somewhere about 
the premises, and began to read from a book, possibly his Bible. 
At last he became alarmed at the absence of his wife and children 
and went out into the garden, thinking it probable that his wife was 
gathering vegetables for their dinner. There he found four of his 
little ones that had been butchered by the Indians. Not finding his 
wife and eldest daughter, he thought they had been made captives 
by the Indians. He returned to the house, got his gun, and went 
to Major Taylor's to get assistance, where he was joyfully surprised 
to find his wife and daughter uninjured. The men of the surround- 
ing country were quickly notified of the occurrence, and the follow- 
ing morning a party of sympathetic friends accompanied the 
bereaved parents to their home to bury the murdered children. 
When the party reached the back of the house they saw Mary, a 
child only four years old, coming from the spring which was at the 
front of the Evans home. She had recovered during the night from 
the blow inflicted with a tomahawk, and had wandered around until 
daylight, and then gone to the spring to quench her thirst. Her 
scalp had been torn from her skull and was hanging over her face 
which was smeared and stained with her blood. Mary recovered 
entirely from the injury, grew up to womanhood, married and 
became the mother of a large family. 

Bickley says that after the horrible calamity, Jesse Evans 
became dissatisfied with his home on the Clinch and moved to Ten- 
nessee. He must have lingered for several years in Wright's Val- 
ley after the massacre of his children. In the surve5'^ors entry book 
of Montgomery County, I find that Jesse Evans in 1782 entered 
400 acres of land in Wright's Valley on the headwaters of the North 
Fork of Clinch River, to include improvements. This was evidently 
the tract of land upon which Evans was living when his children 
were killed by the Indians. 

MASSACRE OF ROARK FAMILY. 

The 3^ear following the massacre of the Evans family another 
frightful tragedy was enacted in Baptist Valley, when the Roark 
family experienced a fate similar to that which befell the family 
of Jesse Evans. Tradition is very apt to err in fixing the dates 



and Southwest Virginia 441 

of incidents similar to those of which I am writing, though it be 
accurate as to the locality where such events take place and the 
circumstances connected therewith. Bickley, who had to depend on 
tradition^ places the massacre of the Roarks in the year 1789, when 
it actually occurred in 1780, as I have ascertained from existing 
records. The following account of the tragedy is given by Dr. 
Bickley : 

"James Roark lived at the gap of the dividing ridge, between 
the waters of the Clinch and the Sandy rivers, through wliich passed 
the Dry Fork road, and which has since been known as Roark's 
Gap. Early in 1789, a band of Shawnee Indians left their homes 
in the west, and ascending the Dry fork, fell upon the defenseless 
family of Mr. Roark and killed his wife and several children. 
Two sons and Mr. Roark were from home and, it may be, thus 
saved their own lives, as the Indians were rather numerous to have 
been beaten off by them, even if they had been at home. 

"This is the only instance that I have met with, of the Indians 
dsiting the settlements of Tazewell before the winter had clearly 
broken. There was a heavy snow upon the ground at the time. 

"From this time forward the Roarks became the deadly enemies 
of the Indians, and sought them, even beyond the limits of the 
county. Mr. Roark and one of his sons (John), were afterwards 
killed in a battle, fought at what was then known as the Station 
bottom, within the present limits of Floyd county, Kentucky." 

In a publication of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 
gotten out in 1917, I have found a report which shows that the 
Roark massacre occurred on the 18th of March, 1780. The report 
was made by Major John Taylor to Colonel William Preston, then 
county lieutenant for Montgomery County, and is official. The 
original report, now in the possession of the State Historical Society 
of Wisconsin, was procured by the late Lyman C. Draper from the 
descendants of Colonel Preston. The report made by Major Taylor 
to Colonel Preston is as follows : 
"Sir: 

"The 18th Instant the Indians was In this Neighborhood and 
Fell in at James Roark's where they Scalped seven of his Children 
And his wife. They are all Dead only one Girl. They took Seven 
Head of Horses Five of which was the property of Wm. Patterson, 



442 History of Tazewell County 

This part of yr. County is In a scene of Confusion And I make no 

doubt but the Country will Break up without they Can Get Some 

Assistance. I am as yet Living at home but Capt Maxwell's Compy 

are Chiefly Gathered together in Small Parties. Corn is very Scarce 

Here but if a few men could be raised I think they Could be found, 

Sir if you have resigned yr Commission Pray let the County Lieut, 

Have this Letter or a few lines from yr. self which I think will 

Answer a better End. I expected a few lines from you By Capt 

Moor but Dont hear of any My family is In Health As I hope yours 

and I am Sir yr. Most Hum Srt. ^ _, , 

J no lay lor 

Head Clinch 23rd March 1780 

C B the Murder was Committed In seven Miles of here." 

Major Taylor was the same man at whose home Mrs. Jesse 
Evans and her daughter sought refuge after her children were 
killed by the Indians in 1779. This report, made by letter to 
Colonel Preston, not only gives the date of the Roark massacre and 
the number of victims but furnishes valuable information as to 
existing military and economic conditions in the Upper Clinch 
region at that time. The military authorities of Montgomery County 
had given no assistance to the inhabitants of the Clinch Valley in 
repelling the repeated invasions made by the Shawnees ; and the 
Evans and Roark massacres had resulted, as the forts and stations 
maintained by the settlers were so widely separated that the Indians 
were able to steal in between the forts and murder the occupants of 
the outlying cabins. Evidently there was a serious scarcity of corn 
in the Clinch Valley, which gave a shortage of food for both men 
and animals. The scarcity of grain seemed to be general throughout 
Montgomery, owing, possibly, to a bad season, or to the employment 
of so many of the inhabitants in the performance of military duties. 
In a letter written the 15th of Feb., 1780, by Rev. Caleb Wallace, 
who was iJien living near the present town of Christiansburg, to 
Colonel William Fleming, then locating lands under military grants 
in Kentucky, the Reverend Wallace says: "The Condition of this 
Country is truly distressing. Corn has risen to 10, 12 & 15 pounds 
the liushel, ar-d it is to be feared that Multitudes will not gel it at 
any Price." 

James Roark must have lingered for several years upon the 
scene after his wife and children were murdered bv the Indians. 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 443 

He was living there in 1783 when Hugh Fulton ran the line between 
Montgomery and Washington counties. The last course in Fulton's 
survey is from the west end of Morris' Knob, and is as follows: 
"Thence from said Knob north crossing the spurs of the same, and 
Paint Lick mountain the north fork of Clinch by John Hines plan- 
tation, and over the river ridge by James Roark's in the Baptist 
Valley, to a sugar tree and two white oaks on the head of Sandy." 
Timothy Roark was a juror on the first grand-jury impaneled 
in Tazewell County, in November, 1800. Whether he was a son or 
brother of James is not disclosed by any existing record. 

CAPTURE AND RESCUE OF INGLES FAMILY. 

Of the numerous hostile visits made by the Indians to the set- 
tlements in Tazewell County, none was more thrilling than the 
capture of the family of Thomas Ingles in Burke's Garden by Black 
Wolf and his band of Shawnees. Relying upon tradition, Bickley 
fixes the date of this incident in the spring of 1787. It occurred in 
April, 1782. 

Thomas Ingles was the son of William and Mary . Ingles, and 
was one of the captives taken at the Draper's Meadows massacre in 
1755. He was carried with his mother and the other prisoners to 
the Shawnee towns in Ohio, and was adopted into an Indian family, 
where he remained for thii-teen years. His father went to Ohio in 
1768, ransomed Thomas by the payment of one hundred and fifty 
dollars, and brought him to his home at Ingles' Ferry on New River, 
situated about one mile south of the present town of Radford. His 
kinsmen. Dr. John P. Hale, in his Trans- Alleghany Pioneers, says 
of Thomas Ingles: "He was very much of a wild Indian in his 
habits when he first returned;" and: "Notwithstanding he was 
petted, humored and caressed at home, a wild fit would overcome 
him now and then, and he would wander off alone in the wilderness 
with his bow and arrow, and stay for days at a time, and, when he 
returned, would give no account of himself, nor explanation of his 
conduct." 

His parents were anxious to have him educated, and sent him to 
Albemarle County, where he was placed under the care of Dr. 
Thomas Walker, the explorer, surveyor, and agent of the Loyal 
Company. There was a school for young men in the neighborhood 
of "Castle Hill," Dr. Walker's residence. While attending this 



444 History of Tazewell County 

school young Ingles made the acquaintance of Miss Eleanor GrillS; 
they became sweethearts, and were married in 1775. 

Shortly after his marriage his father gave him a tract of land 
on Wolf Creek, in the present Giles County. It was in the wilder- 
ness and suited to the wild disposition of the young man. He and 
his family remained a year or two on Wolf Creek, and then 
removed to Abb's Valley, where he settled on the one thousand acre 
tract his father had purchased from the Loyal Company. After 
a residence of a year or more in Abb's Valley, Ingles became 
alarmed for the safety of his wife and children, because of the 
nearness of their home to the Indian trail up the Tug Fork of Sandy, 
and Bluestone. This trail had been used by the Indians for the 
raids they had made to the headwaters of the Clinch and the Upper 
New River Valley; and was considered one of the most dangerous 
on the frontier. He then located with his family in Burke's Garden 
on the tract of land where James Burke had once lived, and occupied 
the house Burke had built. His father, William Ingles, had secured 
from Burke the right to four hundred acres of land which Burke 
had gotten from either Colonel Patton or the Loyal Company. 
There was but one other white man living in the Garden, Joseph 
Hicks by name, a bachelor, whose cabin was two miles distant from 
the Ingles home. 

Though Ingles had moved to the Garden for safety, in April, 
1782, a large party of Shawnees, led by the noted chief. Black Wolf, 
entered Burke's Garden. They concealed themselves until Ingles 
went out on his farm to work, and then surrounded his home; and 
made his wife, their three children and a negro man and woman 
prisoners. After taking as much loot as they could carry, the 
Indians started with their prisoners and booty back to Ohio. The 
cries of the captives attracted the notice of Thomas Ingles and his 
negro man while they were plowing in a field. They abandoned 
their plows, and started on a run to investigate the trouble. Seeing 
a number of Indians, and having no gun. Ingles realized that he 
could do nothing for the relief of his family. He and the negro 
ran back to their plows, unhitched tlie horses, and started to the 
nearest settlement to get assistance. Knowing that the Indians 
would make their way to tlie liead of the Clinch, Ingles decided to 
go in another direction, and crossed the mountains to the nearest 
settlement on the North Fork of the Holston. 



and Southwest Virginia 445 

It happened to be muster day for the Washington County militia 
and the settlers on the North Fork of Holston River had assembled, 
and were being drilled by Captain Thomas Maxwell, who had 
formerly lived at the head of Bluestone, in Tazewell County. Max- 
well, with a party of fifteen or twenty volunteers, went with Thomas 
Ingles to Burke's Garden to pursue the Indians and rescue the cap- 
tives. 

Joseph Hicks and his negro man were on their way to the house 
of Thomas Ingles the morning the Indians made the attack. As 
soon as Hicks discovered the Indians, and saw what they were 
doing, he and his negro retreated rapidly, crossed Burke's Garden 
and Brushy mountains on foot to a small settlement in the present 
Bland County for help. There they secured six or seven men who 
returned with Hicks to the Garden, arriving about the same time 
that Thomas Ingles and Captain Maxwell got there with their party. 
The two forces were united, and went in immediate pursuit of the 
savages. Captain Maxwell was put in command of the whole party, 
and the trail of the Indians was first struck at the head of Clinch. 
Some of the settlers from the Clinch and Bluestone joined the pur- 
suing party; and the trail of the Indians was followed with great 
caution, as it was feared the captives would be killed if the savages 
found they were being pursued. 

On the fifth day after the capture the advance scouts of the white 
men discovered the Indians, who were encamped for the night in a 
gap of Tug Mountain. A consultation was held by the pursuers, and 
it was agreed that Captain Maxwell should take half the men, and, 
during the night, get around to the front of the Indians, and Thomas 
Ingles should remain with the other half at the rear; and that at 
daybreak a simultaneous attack upon the savages be made by the 
two divisions. The night was very dark and the ground exceed- 
ingly rough and brushy. Consequently the party with Maxwell 
lost their way and did not reach the front by daylight. 

Maxwell having failed to get to his appointed place on time, 
and the Indians begirming to rouse from their slumbers. Ingles 
determined to make an attack with his men. Dr. Thomas Hale, who 
was a great-grandson of William and Mary Ingles and who col- 
lected his information from the records of the Ingles family thus 
relates what transpired after the attack was made: 



446 History of Tazewell County 

"So soon as a shot was fired, some of the Indians began to toma- 
hawk the prisoners, wliile others fought and fled. Thomas Ingles 
rushed in and seized his wife just as she had received a terrible blow 
on the head with a tomahawk. She fell, covering the infant of a 
few months old, which she held in her arms. The Indians had no 
time to devote to it. They had tomahawked his little five-year-old 
daughter, named Mary, after her mother, and his little three-year- 
old son, named William, after his father. His negro servants, a 
man and woman, captured with his family, escaped without injury. 

"In making their escape, the Indians ran close to Captain Max- 
well and party, and, firing on them, killed Captain Maxwell, who 
was conspicuous from wearing a white hunting shirt. 

"The whites remained on the ground until late in the evening 
burying Captain Maxwell, who was killed outright, and Thomas 
Ingles' Ittle son, who died from his wounds during the day. Mrs. 
Ingles and the little girl were still alive though badly wounded." 

It was not known definitely whether any of the Indians were 
killed, but while the whites remained on the scene they heard groans 
from the adj acent laurel thickets, that seemed to be made b)'^ persons 
who were sufi'ering or dying. 

After burying the dead and giving such attention as was pos- 
sible to the Avounds of Mrs. Ingles and her little daughter, Mary^, 
the party began its return march to the settlements. Owing to the 
critical condition of Mrs. Ingles and her daughter, the party had to 
move very slowly, and it required four days for them to reach Wil- 
liam Wynne's fort at Locust Hill, one and a half miles east of the 
present town of Tazewell. 

William Ingles, father of Thomas, received the news of the cap- 
ture of his son's family a few days after it occurred, and he immed- 
iately left his home on New River for Burke's Garden. Appre- 
hending that there would be dire need of surgical attention, he 
took with him the best surgeon lie could get in the New River set- 
tlements. He reached Wynne's fort about the same time that 
Thomas Ingles with his wife and children arrived there. No relief 
could be given little Mary, and she died the morning after the 
rescue party reached the fort. The surgeon was more successful 
with the case of Mrs. Ingles. He extracted several pieces of bone 
from her skull, and treated the wound so skillfully that she was 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 447 

able to travel on horseback in a few weeks, when she, with her 
husband and babe, returned with William Ingles to his home at 
Ingle's Ferry, on New River. Very soon thereafter, Thomas 
Ingles, with his wife and infant daughter, moved to Tennessee, and 
settled in succession on the Watauga River, at Mossy Creek, and 
at Fort Knox, now Knoxville. There his daughter, Rhoda, who 
escaped death at the hands of the Indians, grew up to lovely woman- 
hood, and became the wife of Patrick Campbell a prominent citizen 
of Knoxville. Some time subsequent to his daughter's marriage, 
Thomas Ingles moved to Mississippi, where he remained until he 
died. 

THE CAPTIVITY OF JAMES MOORE. 

The pioneer family that suffered most at the hands of the 
Indians was that of Captain James Moore, who moved with his 
family from what is now Rockbridge County to Abb's Valley, in 
1772. Bickley says: "In September, 1784, a party of Indians had 
entered the present limits of Tazewell, and dividing themselves 
into small parties to steal horses and to annoy the settlers, three 
had entered the Abb's Valley settlement, in which resided -Capt. 
James Moore and a brother-in-law named Jolin Pogue (Poage). 
The Indians had been for a day or two lurking round, waiting, and 
looking for an opportunity to seize horses or murder the settlers." 
These three Indians were Black Wolf and two youths about 
eighteen years old, one of them a son of the Wolf. While they 
were lurking round in Abb's Valley, Captain Moore one morning 
sent his son, James, a lad about eighteen years old, to a distant 
pasture to get a horse to take a bag of corn to mill. While James 
was on his way to the pasture, he was suddenly set upon by Black 
Wolf and his companions and made a captive. He was taken by 
his captors to the Indian town in Ohio and adopted by a half sister 
of the Wolf, she giving the chief an old horse in exchange for the 
boy. It was five years before James Moore got back home, and 
three years after the massacre of his father and his family. He had 
many thrilling experiences while with the Indians. In the spring 
of 1775, he was so fortunate as to get away from the Indians, and 
several years after his return home he related the following incidents 
in connection with his captivity: 



448 History of Tazewell County 

"When we returned from hunting, in the spring, the old man 
gave me up to Captain Elliot, a trader, from Detroit. But my 
mistress, on hearing this, became very angry, threatened Elliot, and 
got me back. Some time in April there was a dance at a town about 
two miles from where I resided. This I attended, in company with 
the Indian to whom I belonged. Meeting with a French trader from 
Detroit, by the name of Batest Ariome, who took a fancy to me 
on account of my resemblance to one of his sons, he bought me for 
fifty dollars in Indian money. Before leaving the dance, I met with 
a Mr. Sherlock, a trader from Kentucky, who had formerly been a 
prisoner to the same tribe of Indians, and who had rescued a lad 
by the name of Moffit, who had been captured at the head of Clinch, 
and whose father was an intimate and particular friend of my 
father's. I requested Mr. Sherlock to write to my father, through 
Mr. Moffit, informing him of my captivity, and that I had been pur- 
chased by a French trader, and was gone to Detroit. This letter, 
I have reason to believe, father received, and that it gave him the 
first information of what had become of me. 

"Mr. and Mrs. Ariome were to me parents indeed. They treated 
me like one of their own sons. I ate at their table, and slept with 
their sons, in a good feather bed. They always gave me good 
counsel, and advised me (particularly Mrs. Ariome) not to abandon 
the idea of returning to my friends. I worked on the farm with his 
sons, and occasionally assisted him in his trading expeditions. We 
traded at different places, and sometimes went a considerable dis- 
tance in the country. 

"On one of these occasions, four young Indians began to boast 
of their bravery and among otlier things, said that one Indian could 
whip four white men. This provoked me, and I told them that I 
could whip all four of them. They immediately attacked me, but 
Mr. Ariome, hearing the noise, came and took me away. This I 
considered a kind providence; for the Indians are very unskillful 
in boxing, and in this manner of fighting, I could easily have whip- 
ped all of them; but when they began to find themselves worsted, 
I expected them to attack me with clubs, or some other weapon, 
and if so, had laid my plans to kill them all with a knife, which I 
had concealed in my belt, moxmt a fleet horse, which was close at 
hand, and escape to Detroit. 

"It was on one of these trading expeditions, that I first heard of 



i 



and Southwest Virginia 449 

the destruction of father's family. This I learned through a Shaw- 
nee Indian, with whom I had been acquainted when I lived with 
them, and who was one of the party on that occasion. I received 
this information some time in the same summer after it occurred. 
In the following winter, I learned that my sister Polly had been 
purchased by Mr. Stogwell, an American by birth, but unfriendly 
to the American cause. He was a man of bad character — an unfeel- 
ing wretch — and treated my sister with great unkindness. At that 
time he resided a considerable distance from me. When I heard 
of my sister, I immediately prepared to go and see her; but as it 
was then in the dead of winter, and the journey would have been 
attended with great difficulties, on being told, by Mr. S., that he 
intended to remove to the neighborhood where I resided in the 
following spring, I declined it. When I heard that Mr. Stogwell 
had removed, as was contemplated, I immediately went to see her. 
I found her in the most abject condition, almost naked, being 
clothed with only a few dirty and tattered rags, exhibiting to my 
mind, an object of pity indeed. It is impossible to describe my 
feelings on that occasion; sorrow and joy were both combined; and 
I have no doubt the feelings of my sister were similar to my own. 
On being advised, I applied to the commanding officer at Detroit, 
informing him of her treatment, with the hope of effecting her 
release. I went to Mr. Simon Girty, and to Col. McKee, the super- 
intendent of the Indians, who had Mr. Stogwell brought to trial to 
answer the complaint brought against him. But I failed to pro- 
cure her release. It was decided, however, when an opportxmity 
should occur for our returning to our friends, she should be released 
without remuneration. This was punctually performed, on applica- 
tion of Mr. Thomas Ivins, who had come in search of his sister 
Martha, already alluded to, who had been purchased from the 
Indians by some family in the neighborhood, and was, at that time, 
with a Mr. Donaldson, a worthy and wealthy English farmer, and 
working for herself. 

"All being now at liberty, we made preparations for our journey 
to our distant friends, and set out, I think, some time in the month 
of October, 1789; it being a little more than five years from the 
time of my captivity, and a little more than three years from the 
time of the captivity of my sister and Martha Ivins. A trading boat 
coming down the lakes, we obtained a passage, for myself and sister, 

TH.— 29 



450 



History of Tazewell County 



to the Moravian towns, a distance of about two hundred miles, and 
on the route to Pittsburgh. There, according to appointment, we 
met with Mr. Ivins and his sister, the day after our arrival. He 




This apple tree was carried from Rockbridge County, by James 
Moore, the captive, to Abb's Valley, and planted near the place where 
his father and kindred were massacred. Four years ago, when the 
tree was 116 years old, it bore 116 bushels of excellent apples. Since 
then large portions of the ti'ee were torn off by a stoi-m. 

had, in the meantime procured tliree horses, and we immediately 
set out for Pittsburgli. Fortunately for us, a party of friendly 
Indians, from these towns, were about starting on a hunting excur- 
sion, and accompanied us for a considerable distance on our route, 



and Southwest Virginia 451 

which was through a wilderness, and the hunting-ground of an 
unfriendly tribe. On one of the nights, during our journey, we 
encamped near a large party of these hostile Indians. The next 
morning four or five of their warriors, painted red, came into our 
camp. This much alarmed us. They made many inquiries, but did 
not molest us, which might not have been the case, if we had not 
been in company with other Indians. After this, nothing occurred, 
worthy of notice, until we reached Pittsburgh. Probably we would 
have reached Rockbridge that fall, if Mr. Ivins had not, unfortu- 
nately, got his shoulder dislocated. In consequence of this, we 
remained until spring with an uncle of his, in the vicinity of Pitts- 
burgh. Having expended nearly all his money in traveWng, and 
with the physician, he left his sister and proceeded on with sister 
Polly and myself, to the house of our uncle, William McPhaetus, 
about ten miles south-west of Staunton, near the Middle river. 
He received, from uncle Joseph Moore, the administrator of father's 
estate, compensation for his services, and afterward returned and 
brought in his sister." 

MASSACRE OF THE MOORES. 

Of the many cruel massacres committed by the Indians within 
the bounds of the jDresent Tazewell County that of the Moore family 
was the most tragic and pathetic. Captain Moore had shown such 
wonderful fortitude as a frontiersman, and proved himself such a 
gallant soldier in the Indians Wars and in the Revolution, that his 
death was a grievous loss to his county and State. Dr. Bickley's 
acccount of the tragedy is based upon information he received from 
the immediate descendants of Captain Moore, and from contem- 
porary written narratives. Therefore it must be an accurate narra- 
tive of the terrible affair, and I will reproduce it in full, as follows: 

"In July, 1786, a party of forty-seven Indians, of the Shawnees 
tribe, again entered Abb's Valley. Capt. James Moore usually kept 
five or six loaded guns in his house, which was a strong log building, 
and hoped, by the assistance of his wife, who was very active in 
loading a gun, together with Simpson, a man who lived with him, 
to be able to repel the attack of any small party of Indians. Rely- 
ing on his prowess, he had not sought refuge in a fort, as many 
of the settlers had; a fact of which the Indians seem to have been 
^^wa.re, from their cutting out the tongues of his horses and cattle. 



452 History of Tazewell County 

and jDartially skinning them. It seems they were afraid to attack 
him openly, and sought rather to drive him to the fort, that they 
might sack his house. 

"On the morning of the attack, Capt. Moore, who had pre- 
viously distinguished himself at Alamance, was at a lick bog, a short 
distance from his house, salting his horses, of which he had many. 
William Clark and an Irishman were reaping wheat in front of the 
house. Mrs. Moore and the family were engaged in the ordinary 
business of housework. A man, named Simpson, was sick up-stairs. 
"The two men, who were in the field, at work, saw the Indians 
coming, in full speed, down the hill, toward Captain Moore's who 
had ere this discovered them, and started in a run for the house. 
He was, however, shot through the body, and died immediately. 
Two of his children, William and Rebecca, who were returning 
from the spring, were killed about the same time. The Indians had 
now approached near the house, and were met by two fierce dogs, 
which fought manfully to protect the family of their master. After 
a severe contest, the fiercest one was killed, and the other subdued. 
I shall again use Mr. Brown's narrative, it being quite authentic. 
"The two men who were reaping, hearing the alarm, and seeing 
the house surrounded, fled, and alarmed the settlement. At that 
time, the nearest family was distant six miles. As soon as the alarm 
was given, Mrs. Moore and Martha Ivins (who was living in the 
family) barred the door, but this was of no avail. There was no 
man in the house, at this time except John Simpson, the old English- 
man, already alluded to, and he M'as in the loft, sick and in bed. 
There wei'e five or six guns in the house, but having been shot off 
the evening before, they were then empty. It was intended to have 
loaded them after breakfast. Martha Ivins took two of them and 
went up stairs where Simpson was, and handing them to him, told 
him to shoot. He looked up, but had been shot in the head through 
a crack, and was then near his end. The Indians then proceeded 
to cut down the door, which they soon effected. During this time, 
Martha Ivins went to the far end of the house, lifted up a loose 
plank, and went under the floor, and requested Polly Moore (then 
eight years of age) who had the youngest child, called Margaret, 
in her arms (which was crying), to set the child down, and come 
under. Polly looked at the child, clasped it to her breast, and 
determined to share its fate. The Indians, having broken into the 



and Southwest Virginia 



453 



house, took Mrs. Moore and children, viz ; John, Jane, Polly, and 
Peggy prisoners, and having taken everj^thing that suited them, 
they set it and the other buildings on fire, and went away. Martha 
Ivins remained under the floor a short time, and then came out and 
hid herself under a log that lay across a branch, not far from the 
house. The Indians, having tarried a short time, with a view of 
catching horses, one of them walked aci'oss this log, sat down on the 
end of it, and began to fix his gunlock. Miss Ivins, supposing that 




The shelving rock under which Martha Evans concealed herself 
when the Moore family was massacred. Believing she had been dis- 
covered by an Indian, who was sitting on a log that rested on the rock, 
and who was picking the flint on his rifle, she crawled from conceal- 
ment, was made a prisoner, and became one of the Captives of Abb's 
Valley. 

she was discovered, and that he was preparing to shoot her, came 
out and gave herself up. At this he seemed much pleased. They 
then set out for their towns. Perceiving that John Moore was a 
boy, weak in body and mind, and unable to travel, they killed him 
the first day. The babe thej'^ took two or three days, but it being 
fretful, on account of a wound it had received, they dashed its brains 
out against a tree. They then moved on with haste to their towns. 
For some time, it was usual to tie, very securely, each of the 
prisoners at night, and for a warrior to lie beside each of them, with 



454 History of Tazewell County 

tomahawk in hand, so that in case of pursuit, the prisoners might 
be speedily dispatched. * * * 

"Shortly after tliey reached the towns, Mrs. Moore and her 
daughter Jane were put to death, being burned and tortured at tlie 
stake. This lasted sometime, during whicli she manifested the 
utmost Christian fortitude, and bore it witliout a murmur, at 
intervals conversing with her daugliter Polly, and Martha Ivins, 
and expressing great anxiety for the moment to arrive, when her 
soul should wing its way to the bosom of its Savior. At length 
an old squaw, more humane than the rest, dispatched her with a 
tomahawk. 

"Polly Moore and Martha Ivins eventually reached home, as 
described in the narrative of James Moore. 

"Several incidents, in this narrative, have been left out. When 
the Indians set fire to the house and started, they took from the 
stable the fine black horse Yorick. He was a horse of such a vicious 
nature, that no one could manage him but Simpson. The Indians 
had not proceeded far when one mounted him, but soon the horse 
had him on the ground, and was pawing him to death with his feet ; 
for this purpose a few sti-okes were sufficient. Another mounted 
him and was served in like manner. Perfectly wild with rage, a 
very large Indian mounted him, swearing to ride him or kill him; 
a few plunges and the Indian was under the feet of the desperate 
horse, his teeth buried in his flesh, and uttering a scream as if he 
intended to avenge the death of his master; he had just dispatched 
the Indian, when another running up, stabbed him, and thus put 
an end to the conflict. 'Alas ! poor Yorick.' 

"It is said that INIrs. Moore had her body stuck full of lightwood 
splinters which were fired, and she was thus tortured three days, 
before she died. 

"When Martha Evans and Polly Moore were among the French, \? 
they fared much worse than when among the Indians. The French 
had plenty, but were miserly, and seemed to care little for their 
wants. The Indians had little, but would divide that little to the 
last particle. 

"A song, in commemoration of the Moore captivity, is sung by 
some of the mountaineers to this day, but as it is devoid of poetical 
merit I omit its insertion. It may be seen in Howe's History of 
Virginia." 



and Southwest Virginia 455 

HARMAN AND PEMBERTON BATTLES WITH THE INDIANS. 

The story of the encounter of Henry Harman and his two sons 
with the Indians was obtained by Dr. Bickley from the Harman 
descendants; and the account of Richard Pemberton's battle with 
the red men was given Bickley from tradition. There is nothing 
of record that I have been able to find to throw further light on 
these thrilling occurrences, and I will adopt Bickley's narrative 
thereof in full: 

HARMAN AND PEMBERTON FIGHTS BATTLE BETWEEN THE 

HARMANS AND SEVEN INDIANS. 

"In the fall of 1784, Henry Harman and his two sons, George 
and Matthias, and George Draper left the settlement to engage in 
a bear hunt on Tug river. They were provided with pack-horses, 
independent of those used for riding, and on which were to be 
brought in the game. The country in which their hunt was to take 
place, was penetrated by the 'war-path' leading to, and from the 
Ohio river; but as it was late in the season, they did not expect to 
meet with the Indians. 

"Arriving at the hunting-grounds in the early part of the even- 
ing, they stopped and built their camp; a work executed generally 
by the old man, who might be said to be particular in having it 
constructed to his own taste. George and Matthias loaded, and put 
their guns in order, and started to the woods, to look for sign, and 
perchance kill a buck for the evening's repast, while Draper busied 
himself in hobbling and caring for the horses. 

"In a short time, George returned with the startling intelligence 
of Indians ! He had found a camp but a short distance from their 
own, in wliijii the partly consumed sticks were still burning. They 
could not, of course, be at any considerable distance, and might 
now be concealed near them, watching their every movement. 
George, while at the camp, liad made a rapid search for sign, and 
found a pair of leggins, which he showed the old man. Now old 
Mr. Harman, was a type of frontiersmen, in some things, and par- 
ticularly that remarkable self-possession, which is so often to be met 
with in new countries, where dangers are ever in the path of the 
settlers. So taking a seat on the ground, he began to interrogate 
his son on the dimensions, appearances, etc., of the camp. When 



456 History of Tazewell County 

he had fully satisfied himself, he remarked, that "there must be 
from five to seven Indians/' and that they must pack up and hurry 
back to the settlement, to prevent, if possible, the Indians from 
doing mischief; and, said he, "if we fall in with them, we must 
fight them." 

"Matthias was immediately called in, and the horses repacked. 
Mr. Harman and Draper, now began to load their guns, when the 
old man observing Draper laboring under what is known among 
hunters as the 'Buck Ague,' being that state of excitement, which 
causes excessive trembling, remarked to him, 'my son, I fear you 
cannot fight.' 

"The plan of march was now agreed upon, which was, that Mr. 
Harman and Draj^er should lead the way, the pack-horses follow 
tliem, and Matthias and George, bring up the rear. After they 
had started, Draper remarked to Mr. H., that he would get ahead, 
as he could see better than Mr. H., and that he would keep a sharp 
lookout. It is highly probable that he was cogitating a plan of 
escape, as he had not gone far before he declared he saw the 
Indians, which proved not to be true. Proceeding a short distance- 
further, he suddenly wheeled his horse, about, at the same time cry- 
ing out, "Yonder they are — behind that log:" as a liar is not to be 
believed even when he speaks the truth, so Mr. Draper was not 
believed this time. Mr. Harman rode on, while a large dog, he 
had with him, ran up to the log and reared himself up on it, showing 
no signs of the presence of Indians. At this second, a sheet of 
fire and smoke from the Indian rifles, completely concealed the log 
from view, for Draper had really spoken the truth. 

"Before the smoke had cleared away, Mr. Harman and his sons 
were dismounted, while Draper had fled with all the speed of a 
swift horse. There were seven of the Indians, only four of whom 
had guns ; the rest being armed with bows and arrows, tomahawks 
and scalping-knives. As soon as they fired, they rushed on Mr. 
Harman, who fell back to where his two sons stood ready to meet 
the Indians. 

"They immediately surrounded the three white men, who had 
formed a triangle, each man looking out, or, what would have been, 
with men enough, a hollow square. The old gentleman bid Matthias 
to reserve his fire, while himself and George fired, wounding as 
it would seem, two of the Indians. George was a lame man. 



and Southwest Virginia 457 

from having had white swelling in his childhood, and after firing 
a few rounds, the Indians noticed his limping, and one who fired at 
him, rushed upon him thinking him wounded. George saw the 
fatal tomahawk raised, and drawing back his gun, prepared to meet 
it. When the Indian had got within striking distance, George let 
down upon his head with the gun, which brought him to the ground ; 
he soon recovered, and made at him again, half bent and head fore- 
most, intending, no doubt, to trip him up. But as he got near 
enough, George sprang up and jumped across him, which brought 
the Indian to his knees. Feeling for his knife, and not getting hold 
of it, he seized the Indian's and plunged it deep into his side. 
Matthias struck him on the head with a tomahawk, and finished 
the work with him. 

"Two Indians had attacked the old man with bows, and were 
maneuvering around him, to get a clear fire, at his left breast. The 
Harmans, to a man, wore their bullet-pouches on the left side, and 
with this and his arm he so completely shielded his breast, that the 
Indians did not fire till they saw the old gentleman's gun nearly 
loaded again, when one fired on him, and struck his elbow near the 
joint, cutting one of the principal arteries. In a second more, the 
fearful string was heard to vibrate, and an arrow entered Mr. 
Harman's breast and lodged against a rib. He had by this time 
loaded the gun, and was raising it to his face to shoot one of the 
Indians, when the stream of blood from the wounded artery flew 
in the pan, and so soiled his gun that it was impossible to make it 
fire. Raising the gim, however, had the effect to drive back the 
Indians, who retreated to where the others stood with their guns 
empty. 

"Matthias, who had remained an almost inactive spectator, 
now asked permission to fire, which the old man granted. The 
Indian at whom he fired appeared to be the chief, and was standing 
under a large beech tree. At the report of the rifle, the Indian fell, 
throwing his tomahawk high among the limbs of the tree under 
which he stood. 

"Seeing two of their number lying dead upon the ground, and 
two more badly wounded, they immediately made off, passing by 
Draper, who had left his horse, and concealed himself behind a log. 

"As soon as the Indians retreated, the old man fell back on the 
ground exhausted and fainting from loss of blood. The wounded 



458 History of Tazewell County 

arm being tied up and his face washed in cold water^ soon restored 
him. The first words he uttered were, 'We've whipped, give me my 
pipe.' This was furnished him, and he took a whif, while the boys 
scalped one of the Indians. 

"When Draper saw the Indians pass him, he stealthy crept 
from his hiding-place, and pushed on for the settlement, where he 
reported the whole party murdered. The people assembled and 
started soon the following morning to bury them; but they had not 
gone far before the}' met Mr. H. and his sons, in too good con- 
dition to need burying. 

"Upon the tree, under which the chief was killed, is roughly 
carved an Indian, a bow, and a gun, commemorative of the fight. 
The arrows which were shot into Mr. Harman, are in possession 
of some of his descendants. 

pemberton's fight. 

"Richard Pemberton, the hero of this battle, lived in the Bap- 
tist Valley, about five miles from Jeffersonville. In addition to a 
small farm around his cabin, he cultivated a field, now owned by 
William O. George, about one and a half miles from his dwelling. 

"On a Sabbath morning late in August, 1788, he started to 
his field accompanied by his wife and two children, to see that his 
fences were not down, and to repair any breach that might have been 
made. According to the custom of the times, Mr. Pemberton had 
taken with him his gun, which was his constant companion. After 
satisfying himself that his crops were safe, the little party started 
back. They had gone but a few hundred yards, however, when two 
Indians, armed with bows and arrows, knives, and tomahawks, came 
yelling toward them at full speed. In an instant the pioneer's gun 
was leveled and the trigger pulled; it missed fire, and in his hurry 
to spring the lock again, he broke it, and of course could not fire. 
Seeing him raise his gun to shoot, caused the Indians to halt, and 
commence firing arrows at him. Keeping himself between his wife 
and children and the Indians, he ordered them to get on as fast as 
possible and try to reach a house at which a Mr. Johnson lived, 
and where several men were living. This house was some half mile 
distant, but he hoped to reach it, and save those whom he held 
dearest — his wife and children. The Indians made every possible 
attempt to separate him from his family, all of which proved vain. 



and Southwest Virginia 459 

They would retreat to a respectful distance, and then come bound- 
ing back like so many furies from the regions of indescribable woe. 
When they came too near, he would raise his gun as if he was really 
reserving his fire, which would cause them to halt and surround 
him. But at every attack they shot their arrows into his breast, 
causing great pain. 

"For nearly an hour this running fight was kept up; still the 
blood-thirsty savages pressed on; at last, he was sufficiently near 
to Johnson's house to be heard, and he raised his powerful voice 
for succor; he was heard, but no sooner did the men at the house 
hear the cry of 'Indians' than they took to their heels in an oppo- 
site direction. At last he arrived at the house, closely pursued by 
the Indians, and entering after his family, barred up the door, and 
began to make preparations for acting more upon the offensive, 
when the Indians made a rapid retreat. Pemberton reached his 
own house the following day, where he resided many years, an eye- 
sore to those who had so ingloriously fled from his assistance. 
Many arrow points which entered his breast were never removed, 
and were carried to the end of life, as the best certificate of his 
bravery and devotion to his family." 

DIAL AND THOMAS MURDERED BY INDIANS. 

On the 11th of April, 1786, two men were killed by the In- 
dians within half a mile of William Wynne's fort at Locust Hill, 
and near the house of John Peery. Peery was living near the 
forks of the Clinch, one and a half miles east of Tazewell. Matth- 
ias Harman and Benjamin Thomas were returning from a scouting 
expedition, as there were reports current that Indians were prowl- 
ing arovmd the neighborhood. The scouts stopped at John Peery's, 
near where a man by the name of Dial was living. Dial, it is said, 
had liquor for sale, and he and Harman and Thomas imbibed so 
freely that they became intoxicated. Harman and Thomas had 
come from their scouting expedition very hungry, and they requested 
Mrs. Dial to prepare dinner for them. She consented to do so, if 
the men would get wood with which she could cook the meal. Dial 
and Thomas started to the woods to get the fuel, and when they 
got to the end of the lane, about two hundred yards from the house, 
they were fired upon by six or seven Indians, who had been lying- 
in ambush. Three balls entered Dial's body, but he was able to 



460 History of Tazewell County 

run to his house, pursued by one of the Indians, who was anxious 
to kill and scalp him. When they got near the house, the Indian 
saw other men there and he ran swiftly back to his compan- 
ions. Dial fell against the chimney corner from exhaustion and 
died in a few hours from his wounds. Only one of the Indians 
shot at Thomas and he was so close that Thomas struck the gun up 
when it was fired. The ball struck an oak tree sevei*al feet above 
Thomas' head. He was knocked down with a war club by one of 
the Indians, and was scalped and left for dead. Harman, a son 
of "old man Henry," and, like his father, a daring Indian fighter, 
seized his gun, ran out of the house, mounted his horse and pursued 
the Indians for some distance. He dared them to stop and fight ; 
but they were too near Wynne's fort to accept the challenge, and 
made their escape as rapidly as possible. 

Thomas was supposed by Harman to be dead, and was left 
where he had fallen until the next morning, when he was found by 
the kind old Quaker, William Wynne. Thomas was taken to 
Wynne's fort and every effort was made to save his life, but he 
died after lingering several days. 

MASSACRE OF WILEY CHILDREN AND CAPTIVITY OF THEIR MOTHER. 

Thomas Wile}', with his wife and four children, was living on 
Clear Fork, just half a mile above the mouth of Cove Creek. A 
party of Shawnees came up Tug River and on to the head of Blue- 
stone. On the 1st of October, 1789, they crossed over East River 
Mountain to Clear Fork. Late in the afternoon of that day the 
Indians suddenly made their appearance at the door of Thomas 
Wiley's humble cabin. Wiley was away from home, and the In- 
dians easily made captives of Mrs. Elizabeth Wiley and her four 
children. The savages first plundered the house of its scant con- 
tents and then destroyed it with fire. They then started back to- 
ward Bluestone ; but, after proceeding a short distance up Cove 
Creek, they killed and scalped the four innocent children and left 
their mutilated bodies in the wilderness, a prey for the wolves and 
other carniverous animals that were then numerous in that region. 

The Indians took Mrs. Wiley with them to their towns in 
Ohio, where she was held a captive for nearly three years. In Sep- 
tember, 1792, she made her escape in company with Samuel 
Lusk, a youth some sixteen years old. He had been made a pris- 



and Southwest Virginia 461 

oner in July, 1792, when his scouting companion, Joseph Gilbert, 
was killed on the waters of the Guyandotte River. 

The escape of Mrs. Wiley was nearly as thrilling as was that of 
Mrs. Ingles in 1755. Early in the night, late in September, 1792, 
Mrs. Wiley and Lusk slipped away from the Indian village, got 
in a canoe Lusk had placed ready for the escape; and traveled rap- 
idly down the Scioto River fifty miles to the southern banks of the 
Ohio, which they reached the morning following their escape from 
the village. They abandoned the canoe, and travelled as speedily as 
possible on foot up the southern bank of the Ohio. When they 
reached a point opposite the present Gallipolis, they crossed the 
river to a small village where they found some friendly French 
residing. These kind people gave them refuge, and when a party of 
pursuing Indians reached the village, they made such effectual con- 
cealment of the escaped captives that their pursuers failed to dis- 
cover them. A party of white men came along, traveling up the 
i river in a push boat to Pittsburg, and Lusk joined them. He got 
: to Pittsburg safely, then went to Philadelphia, and from there 
came back to Virginia, reaching his home in Wythe County about 
one month after he made his escape from the Indians. 

A few days after Lusk left, Mrs. Wiley resolved to try to make 
her way home by traveling on foot up the Kanawha, and New 
River. She bravely started on the laborious and jDerilous journey. 
Weary and footsoi'e she succeeded in reaching the home of her hus- 
band's brother, who was then living with his family at Wiley's 
Falls, in the present Giles County, Virginia. 

INDIANS KILL JOHN DAVIDSON. 

Some time in either 1789 or 1790, John Davidson, a man 
advanced in years, was killed by the Indians on the Clinch River, 
half a mile above the present town of North Tazewell. Mr. David- 
son had been on a business visit to Rockingham County, Virginia, 
and was returning to his home when the murder was committed at 
a point near the present residence of Charles H. Peery. 

The circumstances connected with the tragedy were afterwards 

.made known by white persons who had been in captivity, and who 

were told by the Indians, when they were prisoners, how, and 

why, Mr. Davidson was killed. He had stopped at a deserted cabin 

'^,to feed his horse, and while thus occupied was shot to death. The 



462 History of Tazewell County 

Indians also said that a white renegade was with them when the 
horrible deed was done. It seems that the crime was a double one, 
as the Indians and their companion found a considerable amount 
of specie in the saddlebags of the old man which was stolen by the 
murderers. Bickley says: 

"A few days after, his son, Col. Davidson, became uneasy on 
account of his absence, and raising a small company went in search 
of him. Luckily, when they got to the cabin, they found a hatband, 
which, being of peculiar structure, was recognized as that worn 
by Mr. Davidson. After considerable search, his body was found 
stripped of clothing, and somewhat disfigured by birds. As the 
Indians had too long been gone to be overtaken, Mr. Davidson was 
taken home and buried." 

ANDREW Davidson's family made captives. 

In the spring of 1791, Andrew Davidson was living at the 
head spring of East River, about a half mile below the eastern limits 
of the city of Bluefield, West Virginia. In addition to himself, his 
family consisted of his wife, Rebecca, his three small children, two 
girls and a boy, and a bound boy and girl named Broomfield. The 
bound children were very young, between seven and ten years old, 
and were more in the nature of proteges than servants. Mrs. David- 
son was a granddaughter of James Burke, from whom Burke's 
Garden received its name. Mr. Davidson had gone on a business 
trip to Smithfield, formerly Draper's INIeadows, and now Blacks- 
burg, Virginia. It was the sugar making season, and a few days 
after her husband's departure for Smithfield, Mrs. Davidson was 
busily occupied gathering sugar water from sugar trees close to the 
house. While she was thus engaged, several Indians, who could 
speak English, came upon the scene. They told her that she and 
her children must go with them to their towns in Ohio. She was 
in a delicate condition, and unfit to undertake the long and fatiguing 
trip she was required to make. 

The Indians went into the house, and took such plunder as they 
wanted to carry away, set fire to the cabin, and began their home- 
ward journey with their six prisoners. When they arrived at a 
point near where Logan Court House, West Virginia, is located, 
Mrs. Davidson gave birth to a child. After allowing the mother 
a rest of two hours, the march to Ohio was resumed. The birth of 



and Southwest Virginia 463 

the child must have been premature^ as it was drowned by the 
Indians the next day on account of its feeble condition. 

Mrs. Davidson and the captive children were treated with such 
leniency while they were making the journey, that she became 
hopeful they would be kindly treated after their arrival at the 
Indian towns. In this, however, she was sadly disappointed. Soon 
after they arrived at their towns, the Indians tied the two daughters 
of Mrs. Davidson to trees, and shot them to death in the presence 
of their mother. Her son was given to an old squaw for adoj^tion. 
While crossing a river the squaw upset her canoe, and the boy, who 
was with her, was drowned. What became of the Broomfield 
children was never known, and it is possible they shared the same 
fate of the little girls who were shot. 

Mrs. Davidson was sold to a Frenchman, in Canada, in whose 
family she remained as a servant until she was found and rescued 
by her husband in the fall of 1794. Two years after her cap- 
ture Mr. Davidson made an unsuccessful trip to the Shawnee towns 
in search of his wife. On his second trip, in 1794, he received 
information from an old Indian as to her whereabouts, and was 
guided by the Indian to Canada. He stopped one day at a farm 
house to get dinner, and what followed is thus related by Dr. 
Bickley : 

"When he got into the Canada settlements, he stopped at the 
house of a wealthy French farmer, to get a meal's victuals, and to 
inquire the way to some place where he had heard she was. He 
noticed a woman passing him, as he entered the house, but merely 
bowed to her and went in. Asking for his dinner, he seated him- 
self, and was, perhaps, running over in his mind, the chances of 
finding his wife, when again the woman entered. She laid down 
her wood, and looked at the stranger steadily for a moment, when 
she turned to her mistress and said: '/ know that man.' 'Well, 
who is he.''' said the French lady. 'It is my husband! Andrew 
Davidson, I am your wife.' Mr. Davidson could scarcely believe 
his senses. When lie last saw her, she was a fine, healthy-looking 
woman; her hair was black as coal, but now her head was gray, 
and she looked many years older than she should have looked. 
Yet it was her, though he declared nothing but her voice seemed to 
say she was Rebecca Davidson. Soon the French gentleman 



464 History of Tazewell County 

returned, and being a humane man, gave up Rebecca to her husband, 
also a considerable sum of money, and next morning sent them on 
their way rejoicing." 

The happily reunited husband and wife returned as quickly as 
possible to the vicinity of their former home, and settled at the 
mouth of Abb's Valley on a farm which was owned some ten years 
ago by A. C. Davidson. They were so fortunate as to have and 
raise another family of children, and a number of their descendants 
are now living in Tazewell County, and in Mercer County, West 
Virginia. 

OTHER MASSACRES RELATED BY BICKLEY. 

There were other dastardly outrages inflicted by the Indians 
upon the Tazewell settlers, whereof the dates and circumstances 
were uncertain. Dr. Bickley wrote briefly about four of the occur- 
rences, and as I have been unable to get any further facts connected 
therewith I will reproduce what he said of them: 

MURDER OF WILLIAM WHITLEY. 

"William Whitley lived in Baptist valley, and had been out on 
a bear hunt. He came home, and finding that a choice dog was 
gone, started the following morning to look for him. The day 
passed off and he did not return. His family became uneasy and a 
company started out to hunt for him. They had not gone far, how- 
ever, when they met a man named Scaggs, who had passed a mur- 
dered man at the mouth of Dick's Creek. The company pushed on 
and identified the man to be Whitley. He was dreadfully multi- 
lated — his bowels torn out and stretched upon the bushes, his heart 
in one place, and liver in another. A hole was opened, and the frag- 
ments gathered up and interred. This happened in 1786. 

MOFFIt's CHILDREN CAPTURED. 

"Capt. Moflit lived near Clinch river, on the plantation now 
owned by Kiah Harman. Two of his children were attending to 
a sugar camp, when they were captured and taken off to the Indian 
towns in the west. Whether the boys ever got back is unknown, 
as Captain Moflit soon afterward moved to Kentucky, where some 
of his descendants still reside. 



and Southwest Virginia 465 



RAY S FAMILY KILLED. 

"I have been unable to learn anything of the particulars of this 
occurrence, more than the bare fact, that Joseph Ray and his 
family were killed by the Indians, on Indian Creek, in 1788 or '9. 
It is from this circumstance that Indian Creek has taken its name. 

DANIEL HARMAN KILLED. 

"Daniel Harman left his house, on the head of Clinch, on a fine 
morning in the fall of 1791, for the purpose of killing a deer. 
Where he went for that puriDose, is not known, but having done so, 
he started for home with the deer fastened to the cantle of his 
saddle. Harman was a great huntei*, and owned a choice rifle, 
remarkable for the beauty of its finish, and the superior structure 
of its triggers, which were, as usual, of the double kind. So strong 
was the spring of these, that when sprung, the noise might be 
heard for a considerable distance. He was riding a large horse, 
fleet, and spirited, and had got within a mile of home, and was 
passing tlirough a bottom, near the present residence, and on the 
lands of Mr. William O. George, when suddenly a party of Indians 
sprang from behind a log, and fired on him. He was unhurt, and 
putting spurs to his horse, away he went through the heavy timber, 
forgetting all other danger, in his precarious situation. On he 
went, but his horse, passing too near a tree, struck the rider's knee, 
breaking his leg, and throwing him from his horse. In a few 
minutes the savages were upon him, and with their tomahawks, 
soon put an end to his sufferings. The horse continued his flight 
til he got to the house, at which were several of the neighbors, who 
immediately went to look after Harman. Passing near the Indians, 
they heard the click of Harman's well-know trigger. A panic struck 
the men, and running in zigzig lines, they made a rapid retreat, 
leaving the Indians to silently retrace their steps from the settle- 
ment." 

LAST HOSTILE INDIAN INVASION. 

Tile last invasion of tlie territory that afterward constituted the 
county of Tazewell, was made by the Indians in 1792. A band of 
Shawnees slipped into the settlements on Bluestone, and the head 
of Clinch, on a horse-stealing expedition. The Indians had found 
it more profitable to take horses than scalps from the white men. 

TH.-30 



466 



History of Tazewell County 



They would take the stolen horses to Canada, where thej^ always 
found a good market for the already famous horses that were being 
bred in the Clinch Valley. There must have been a pretty large 
company of Indians in this last foray they made to Tazewell, as 
they occupied but a little while in collecting about eighty good 
horses and starting on the return trip to their liomes beyond the 
Ohio River. 

The first night after starting on their return journey the Indians 
were encamjDed a short distance from the settlements; and their 




Porti-ait of 'Squire Thomas Peery, one of the first generation bom 
in Tazewell County. He was bom Feb. 25th, 1794, and died July 2nd, 
1860. The beautiful boy standing by him is his son, Thomas Ritchie 
Peery, who was killed in battle at Winchester, Va., in September, 1864, 
at the age of twenty years. 

presence was accidently discovered by a white man who had been 
out scouting or hunting. He hastened to the Eluestone and Clinch 
settlements, and gave notice of his discovery to the inhabitants and 
the garrisons at Bailey's and Wynne's forts. Major Robert 
Crockett, who was then commanding the military frontier forces of 
Wythe County, was making his headquarters at Wynne's fort, where 
he had a small garrison. By noon on the day he got the information 
about the Indians, Major Crockett had organized two companies 
of mounted riflemen, one company from Bluestone, and (me from 
the head of the Clinch. He assembled his forces at a point near 
what is now called the "Round House" which was built in about 



and Southwest Virginia 467 

1840 by 'Squire Thomas Peer}', and occupied by him as a residence 
until his death in 1860. Judge David E. Johnston carefully col- 
lected the facts connected with this, the last, incursion into Tazewell 
by the Indians ; and, in his History of the Middle New River Set- 
tlements, thus relates what followed the gathering of the men to 
pursue the red men: 

"Major Crockett moved off with his men to follow the Indians, 
having no time to prepare provisions for the journey. They took 
the route down Horse Pen Creek, and to the head of Clear fork, 
and down to the Tug and on to the mouth of Four Pole, then cross- 
ing the dividing ridge between the waters of the Sandy and Guyan- 
dotte Rivers. They sent Gilbert and Lusk forward to a Buffalo lick 
on a creek flowing into the Guyandotte, to secure if possible a sup- 
ply of game. It appears by the report of Major Crockett, found 
in the Virginia Calendar Papers, that this was on the twenty fourth 
day of July that Gilbert and Lusk set out for and reached the lick, 
where they found and killed a deer and wounded an elk, which they 
followed, some distance ; being unable to overtake it they returned 
to the lick to get the deer they had killed. On passing along the 
Buffalo path, near which they had left the deer, Gilbert in front, 
discovered a stone hanging by pawpaw bark over the path. Gilbert 
in an instant discerning what it meant called on Lusk to look out. 
He had scarcely uttered the words, when the Indians fired, a ball 
from one of their guns penetrating the hand of Lusk, in which he 
carried his gun, which caused him to drop the same. The Indians 
immediately began to close in on them, Gilbert putting Lusk behind 
him, and holding the Indians off by the presentation of his gun. 
Gilbert and Lusk kept retreating as rapidly as they could with 
safety. Lusk's wounded hand was bleeding freely, and he became 
sick from the loss of blood, and begged Gilbert to leave him and 
get away; this Gilbert refused to do, saying that he promised his, 
Lusk's mother, to take care of him. Finally the Indians got close 
enough to knock Gilbert down with their tomahawks, which they 
did, and an Indian rushed up to scaljD him, when Gilbert shot him 
dead, but another one of the Indians dispatched Gilbert, and Lusk 
became a prisoner. The Indians immediately hurried with their 
prisoner down the creek to Guyandotte, and then down the river to 
the mouth of Island Creek, and went into camp behind a rocky 



468 History of Tazewell County 

ridge called Hog Back at the present day. Major Crockett instead 
of following the tracks of Gilbert and Lusk to the lick, had turned 
to the west, and crossed a ridge onto the right fork of Island 
Creek, and reached and camped at a point within two miles of the 
Indian camp, but without knowledge of his proximity to them. 
During the night Lusk suffered much with his hand until an Indian 
went off and brought some roots which he beat up into a pulp, made 
a poultice, and bound his hand which afforded relief. Early on the 
morning of the 25th the Indians took to their canoes, which they 
had left at this point on their way to the settlements, and rapidly 
descending the river to its mouth crossed the Ohio. On reaching 
the northern bank, they placed their canoes in charge of some of 
their party and taking Lusk with them crossed the country." 

Judge Johnston does not mention the fact that Major Crockett 
and his men overtook the Indians, made an attack upon them, and 
recovered most of the horses that had been stolen. Writing about 
what happened after Crockett and his riflemen left the Clinch 
Valley, Bickley says : 

"They made forced marches, and came up with them (the 
Indians) about one o'clock at night, at what is called the Islands of 
Guyandotte. Some of the whites were for attacking them immed- 
iately, and others wished to wait till morning, when they might see. 
While thus in parley, the Indians in the meantime, preparing for 
some movement, a horse neighed; in a moment a fire was opened 
upon them, but to no effect. The Indians raised a yell, secured a 
few of the horses, and fled, leaving a good breakfast, and several 
dozen pairs of moccasins to be taken home as trophies by the whites. 
The breakfast of bears' meat and turkey was consumed by the 
whites, whose appetites were too keen to suffer themselves to enter 
into speculation as to the probable nicety of their runaway cooks." 

The period of anxiety and suffering, and sorrow and tragedy, 
was at last ended for the pioneers. And the phantoms of fear and 
death, in the shape of a red man, were no longer to disturb the 
people on the Clinch. 



Ante-Bellum, or Formative Period 



» 



From Organization of Tazewell County 
to 1861 



I 



ANTE-BELLUM, OR FORMATIVE 
PERIOD 



CHAPTER I. 

ORGANIZATION OF TAZEWELL COUNTY. 

Among the many interesting events that occurred in the early 
history of Tazewell County, the organization of its county govern- 
ment is of supreme importance. The last section of the act which 
created the county says: "This act shall commence and be in force 
from and after the first daj^ of May next," meaning the first day 
of May, 1800. By authority of the act, the justices who composed 
the county court held their first term at the house of Henry Har- 
man, Jr., on the second Tuesday in June, 1800. 

Unfortunately, a few of the first pages of the order book of 
the court have been mutilated and lost. It is, therefore, impossible 
to give the names of all of the justices who were present and sit- 
ting at the first term, or to detail any of the proceedings, except 
from hearsay or tradition. From entries on pages of the order book, 
following immediately those torn off, it is made evident that the 
first court sitting was composed in part, if not entirel}^, of the fol- 
lowing justices: David Ward, George Peery, Robert Wallace, 
Wm. Neal, Samuel Walker, Henry Bowen, and David Hanson. 

The act of the General Assembly directed the justices to qualify 
the sheriff and appoint a clerk. It is a reasonable conclusion that 
the justices promptly complied with these requirements of the act. 
James Maxwell qualified as sheriff, and John Ward was appointed 
clerk of the county. If other candidates offered for the clerkship, 
their names are unknown, owing to the mutilation and loss of the 
front pages of the first order book. It is also probable that the 
location of the county seat was selected at this, the first term of 
the court. Of course there was a contention over the location, as 
had been the case in nearly every county formed after Vii'ginia 
became a state. Tradition says there was a very sharp contro- 
versy over the selection of a site for the county seat of Tazewell 
County. Two locations were offered and urged for adoption. One 

( 471 ) 



472 History of Tazewell County 

was where the town of Tazewell is situated, and the other at or 
near the forks of Clinch River — one and a half miles east of the 
present county seat. The justices being unable, or loth, to deter- 
mine the most suitable location, it is said that the advocates of the 
two competing locations agreed for each to choose a champion, and 
have an old-fashioned rough-and-tumble fight to settle the dispute. 
Tradition affirms that the champion who battled for the present 
site proved the better man ; and here the county seat was located. 
This story may be a myth ; but on the second day of the first term 
of the court, the following order was entered: 

"Hezekiah Harman being appointed yesterday to lay off the 
land offered by William Peery and Samuel Ferguson for the use 
of the county made report that he had laid off twenty-three acres 
and twentj'-eight square poles. Ten acres and Twenty eight square 
poles being of Ferguson's land and thirteen acres of Wm. Peery's 
land, whereupon the court were unanimously of the opinion that the 
jniblic buildings should be erected on the land so laid off and that 
William George, James Witton and John Crockett do lay oft' and 
circumscribe two acres for the purpose of building the public Build- 
ings for this county, and the balance of the land remain for the 
benefit of the County, only saving and reserving to the said Peery 
four quarter acre lots out of the land he this day conveyed to the 
County, and reserving to the said Ferguson two quarter acre lots 
out of the land he this day conveyed to the County." 

This order shows that the court had aocepted, and unanimously 
ratified, the result of the fistic battle between the champions of 
the two communities that competed for the county seat. On the 
same day other orders were entered by the court, as follows : 

"Joseph Moore came into court and proffered to lay of the lots 
for a town where the public buildings are to be erected in quarter 
acre lots for the price of 33 l/3 cents each, and it is ordered that 
William George, James Witton and John Crockett do attend as 
Commissioners and direct the surveying of the lots tomorrow." 

"Ordered that David Ward and Samuel Walker be Commis- 
sioners to contract for the building of a jail for this county, and 
that they do advertise the same in the most j)ublic places to be let 
to the lowest bidder at next court." 



and Southwest Virginia 



473 



"Ordered that Court adjourn until Court in course and they 
will meet next Court at the place appointed for erecting the public 
buildings for this County." 

It will be observed that no commissioners were appointed to 
have a court house erected, though the adjourning order of the 
court stated that the next term should be held at the place appointed 
for erecting the public buildings for the county. This seeming- 
neglect to provide a permanent building for the courts is explained 
by the fact that only a temporary structure could be erected in 




Col. Henry Bowen, son of Lieut. Rees Bowen who fell at King's 
Mountain. He was born at Maiden Spring on March 18th, 1770, and 
died at the place of his birth April 18th, 1850. He was one of the 
justices of the first county court of Tazewell, was a Captain in the 
War of 1812, represented the county several times in the House of 
Delegates, and left a splendid estate to his two sons, General Rees T. 
and Col. Henry S. Bowen. 

the tliirty days that would intervene between the June and July 
terms. It was determined that a temporary' building should be 
provided by recurring to the community system adopted by the 
pioneer settlers when they built their cabin homes, and when all 
the men of a community would gather together and build the cabin 
of a new settler in a day. Tradition further relates that citizens 
from all sections of the county assembled at the chosen county seat 
on a certain day. They brought along their axes, broadaxes, and 
other tools ; and cut down trees, hewed the logs and raised them 



474 



History of Tazewell County 



into position, rived boards and placed them on the roof, hewed 
puncheons for the floor, and completed a court house for the already 
great county of Tazewell in a single day. Perhaps the building 
was rough in appearance and not very capacious, but it was a temple 
of justice for our worthy ancestors and served their purposes well 
until a pemianent building was erected. 

William George, James Witten and John Crockett, commis- 
sioners, had laid off and circumscribed two acres for the public 
buildings, one acre on the north side and one acre on the south side 
of the present Main Street of the town of Tazewell. The tem- 




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This old plat was made by Joseph Moore who laid off the town 
in July, 1800. The author wrote his description of the little log 
court house and jail from tradition and imagination two years before 
he discovered the plat. It verifies both tradition and his imagination, 
I found in the proceedings of the county court the order which directed 
the erection of the stocks, shown on plat at rear of the jail. 



and Southwest Virginia 475 

porary court house was built on the lot where the Lynch building 
now stands, and which is occupied by Fuller Brothers with their 
department store. And the jail was located on the south side of 
the street on the lot where the St. Clair building stands, which 
is occupied by Will Ed Peery with his hardware store. 

It must have been a very proud and happy day for the pioneers 
who assembled in July, 1880, to witness and participate in the 
dedication of the new court house, which was emblematic of the 
heoric struggle they had made for the founding of their county 
republic. The event, no doubt, brought together the entire male 
population of the county ; and it is almost certain that many of the 
women and children were also in attendance. This term of the 
county court opened its proceedings as follows : 

"At a court held for Tazewell County, July 1st, 1800, in the 
new court house according to adjournment of the last court. 

"Present David Ward, George Peery, Robert Wallace, Wm. 
Neal, Saml. Walker, Henry Bowen, and David Hanson." 

The justices in those days were appointed for life; and the 
seven who held the July term of the court had previously been 
appointed and served as justices of Russell and W3'the counties — 
David Ward, Henry Bowen, and David Hanson for Russell ; and 
George Peery, Robert Wallace, Wm. Neal and Saml. Walker for 
Wythe. They, by operation of the then existing statute laws, 
became a part of the court for the newly erected county ; and 
apparently had authority to organize the county before the jus- 
tices to be named by the governor and the state council had received 
their commissions. Owing to the mutilation of the order book, 
there is but little to be learned about the proceedings of the coui*t 
at the July term, and nothing whatever of the August term. 

At the September term William George, John Crockett, James 
Witten and Thomas Harrisson, wlio had been appointed commis- 
sioners for the purpose, reported that they had made a sale of the 
town lots; and they were directed, as commissioners, to convey the 
lots to the several purchasers. 

Leave was granted John Peery, upon the return of a writ of ad 
quod damnum, to erect a water. grist mill. After noting the execu- 
tion of the writ and the verdict of the jury, the order is as follows: 



476 History of Tazewell County 

"On consideration wliereof & for reasons appearing to the court 
it is ordered that tlie sd. Peery have leave to build the sd. mill & 
Dam agreeable to the verdict returned by the Sheriff on his making- 
good the highway that will be injured bj' the sd. Dam & making 
a slope for the passage of fish, which together with the writ is 
ordered to be executed." 

The mill and dam were duly erected on Clinch River about 
a mile below Pisgah. At that time there was an abundante of fine 
fish in the river; and the court took the precaution to order that a 
slope should be placed on the dam so as to give the fish unobstructed 
passage up the stream. 

James Maxwell had been acting as sheriff' of the county under 
temporary appointment, but had not received his commission from 
the goveraor. The court had to recommend three citizens for the 
place, one of whom was to be selected by the governor for appoint- 
ment. In compliance with this rule the court placed upon the record 
the following order: "Ordered that James Maxwell, George Peery, 
& Robert Wallace be recommended to the govn & honl privy Council 
as fit and capable persons to act as sheriff of Tazewell county." 
jNIaxwell was subsequently appointed by the governor and council 
and acted as the first sheriff' of the county. 

An order was made appointing David Ward, Samuel Walker. 
James Thompson and George Peery commissioners to publish notices 
and ask for bids for building a court house, "the said court house 
to be completely finished in a workmanlike manner on or before the 
first day of May, 1802." 

Much attention was given to the public roads at this and subse- 
quent terms of the court. The petition sent to the General Assembly 
for a new county had urged that the highways had been greatly 
neglected by the authorities of Russell and Wythe counties. So. 
at the September term, 1800, the county court began to remedy the 
evil complained of, and at each succeeding term for several years 
thereafter the roads were made a matter of leading importance. 
Viewers for new roads and surveyors for those already in existence 
were appointed. There were no graded roads in the county, and 
the new roads that were o2:)ened were simply cleared of trees and 
brush, and located on the best natural grades obtainable, while those 



and Southwest Virginia 477 

that crossed mountains and ridges went up a spur on one side and 
down a spur on the other side. 

Orders entered by the court at the October term, worthy of 
mention, are: 

"Ordered that the overseers of the poor do bind William Roberts 
an apprentice to William Smith according to law to learn the art 
and mistery of wheelright." 

"Ordei'cd that John Powers be appointed a constable in this 
county." 

"John Peery, Joseph Davidson, Thomas Witten, William George, 
John Thompson, Hezekiah Whitt, Thomas Gillespie, Hezekiah 
Harman, & John Tollett produced a commission from his Excellency 
the governor appointing them justices of the peace in & for the 
County of Tazewell & thereupon they took the necessary oaths of 
office accordingl3\" 

At the November term the following was the first order entered: 

"William Hall, James Thompson, and James Brown, gents, 
produced a commission from his Excellency, James Monroe, Esq., 
Governor of this Commonwealth, appointing them justices in and 
for the County of Tazewell, and thereupon they took the necessary 
oaths of office, and thereupon they took their seats accordingly." 

The county court of Tazewell County then consisted of nine- 
teen justices, twelve of whom had been commissioned by Governor 
Monroe, and seven of whom liad been justices in Russell and Wythe 
before the territory in whicli they were living was formed into 
Tazewell County. 

James Thompson, who had been appointed by the court Com- 
monwealth's Attorney for the county, made his first appearance for 
the Commonwealth at this term. The first grand-jury impanelled in 
the county was constituted and reported as follows : 

"A grand jury, to-wit: Andrew Thompson, foreman, James Wit- 
[ten, William Brooks, Edley Maxwell, James Sloan, Thomas Brew- 
ster, William Witten, William Wynne, James Moore, James Cecil, 
^illiam Cecil, George Asbury, Timothy Rowark (Roark), John 
""oung, James Lockheart, John Mcintosh, William Kidd, and John 
iPeery, Sen., being sworn a grand jury of Inquest for the body of 
Ithis County having received their charge retired to consult of their 



478 History of Tazewell County 

presentments, and after some time returned and presented as 
follows." 

The list was not preserved^ but, from the entries of the Com- 
monwealth's cases in the order book, it is evident there were no 
indictments made, and only presentments for misdemeanors. Fol- 
lowing the report of the grand- jury, the court granted permission 
for tlie first tavern opened at the court house, as follows: 

"On tlie motion of William George for leave to keep an ordinary 
at Tazewell Court House for the term of one year it is ordered that 
he have leave to keep the said ordinary, whereupon he together with 
George Peery his security entered into and acknowledged their 
bond according to law." 

When the court convened for the December, 1800, term, "Wil- 
liam George and William Peery produced commissions from His 
Excellency tlie Governor of Virginia appointing them coroners for 
Tazewell County." 

It appears that between the ending of the November term and 
the beginning of the December term the name "Jeffersonville" had 
been given the county seat. In tlie order made at the November 
term granting leave to William George to keep an ordinary, the 
county court had designated the county seat "Tazewell Court 
House." But in an order entered the 7th of December, 1800, the 
court says "leave is granted Thomas Peery to keep an ordinary 
(tavern) at his house in Jeffersonville." The name was given in 
honor of Thomas Jefferson, who had just been elected President of 
the United States. He was then recognized as the most conspicuous 
and potential citizen of tlie United States in publi'j life ; and his 
splendid principles of popular government had the solid approval 
of the voters of Tazewell. For eighty years thereafter the county 
was uniformly steadfast in its support of the party which claimed 
to stand for the principles of government enunciated by Jefferson. 

At this term of tlie court, Andrew Thompson was appointed 
Commissioner of Revenue for the year 1801. The assessments 
within the bounds of the new county had been made for 1800 by 
the commissioners of Wj'the and Russell. Thompson's appointment 
about completed the civil organization of the county. 



\ 



and Southwest Virginia 479 

A very important duty then devolved upon the court, that of 
effecting the military organization of Tazewell. This was accom- 
plished by the coui-t entering orders recommending certain citizens 
to the Governor and Privy Council as "fit and Capable" persons to 
act as officers of the militia. The court recommended: John Thomp- 
son as Major in the 1st Battalion of the 112th Regiment; John 
Ward as Major of 2nd Battalion of the 112th Regiment; Archibald 
Thompson, Hezekiah Harman, and Andrew Davidson as Captains 
in the 1st Battalion of the- 1 12th Regiment; John Davidson, Ambrose 
Hall, and John Maxwell as Lieutenants in the 1st Battalion of the 
112th Regiment; Elias Harman, John Cartmill, and James Peery 
as Ensigns in the 1st Battalion of the 112th Regiment; George 
Davidson to act as Captain, William Peery, Jr., Lieutenant, and 
William Williams, Ensign, in a Company of Light Infantry for 
the 1st Battalion of the 112th Regiment; Thomas Ferguson, James 
Witten, and Thomas Greenup as Captains in the 2nd Battalion of 
the 112th Regiment; Reese Bowen, Abram Eheart, and William 
Smith as Lieutenants in the 2nd Battalion of the 112th Regiment, 
Hugh Wilson, John Cecil, and Samuel Belcher as Ensigns in the 2nd 
Battalion of the 112th Regiment; Samuel Witten as Captain, Wil- 
liam Witten, Jr., as Lieutenant, and Reese Gillespie as Ensign of 
a company of Light Infantry in the 11 2th Regiment. 

The 112th Regiment, when organized, consisted of eight com- 
panies, each with fifty men, rank and file, making a very respectable 
organization of four hundred fighting men. That they were a 
splendid fighting force is evidenced by the names of the men who 
were the commissioned officers. They came chiefly from the pioneer 
families, and some of them were veteran Indian fighters ; while most 
of them were sons of the pioneers, and had used their rifles in more 
than one encounte?* with tlie red men. 



A study of the early court records reveals much that bears upon 
the social, moral, and economic conditions that prevailed in Taze- 
well at the time the county was organized. This is why I have 
written thus much and will write more about the proceedings 
of the first comity court. Preachers were few and far between in 
the frontier settlements in those days; and it became a public 
necessity for authority to be given other persons than regularly 



480 History of Tazewell County 

ordained ministers to celebrate the rites of matrimony in Tazewell 
County. So, I find that the county court on tlie .'Jrd of March, 
1801, made the following order: 

"Ordered that John Tollett be authorized to celebrate the rites 
of matrimony in this County according to law and thereupon he took 
the oath of allegiance to this Commonwealth, whereupon he, together 
with Hezekiah Harman and George Peery his securities entered 
into and acknowledged their bond in the penal sum of fifteen hun- 
dred dollars conditioned for the faithful discharge of the trust 
reposed in him. Thereupon testimonials is granted him to celebrate 
the rites of matrimony in this county." 

At the same time a similar order was entered authorizing David 
Ward to celebrate the rites of matrimony in the county, with John 
Ward and James M. Campbell as his securities. Both Tollett and 
Ward were justices of the peace and members of the county court. 

On the 14th of May, 1801, the court entered four judgments to 
be paid in pounds, shillings, and pence. These judgments must 
have been given on contracts that were written in English money, 
though the Congress of the United States had in 1785 adopted the 
silver dollar as the unit; and on the 2nd of April, 1792, had enacted 
that "The money of the United States shall be expressed in dollars 
or units," the dollar "to be the value of a Spanisli milled dollar 
as the same is now current," and to contain 371^/4 grains of pure 
silver. The same act of Congress fixed the weight of the gold 
dollar at 24')-4 grains, which made the ratio of value of silver to 
gold, by weight, as one to fifteen. 

When Tazewell County was organized there were no banks of 
issue in Virginia, and comparatively no paper money in circulation 
in the frontier counties. A mint had been established at Piiil- 
adelphia under the coinage act of 1792, but very few, if any, of 
the minted coins had been brought to the remote settlements on the 
Clinch. There was, however, sufficient specie in Tazewell to con- 
duct the ordinary business of the inhabitants, most of the local 
commercial transactions being conducted by barter. The coins in 
circulation here were mostly of English mintage, with smaller 
portions of French and Spanish coinage. F'rom 1780 until the close 
of the Revolutionary War hard money had been j^lentiful in the 
United States. This condition was caused by the large disburs- 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 481 

ments made by the British and French armies and navies during 
the closing years of the Revolution, together with the loans nego- 
tiated by the Continental Congress and our heavy commerce with 
the West Indies. It is said that the flow of specie from Europe to 
America was so heavy that the drain was seriously felt in France 
and England. 

The thrifty, industrious citizens of Tazewell had not only become 
self-sustaining, but had been sending out to the eastern markets 
large numbers of cattle and horses; and were bringing back in 
exchange therefor, gold and silver, which did not quickly find its 
way back to the East. Careful business men in Tazewell did not 
accept the gold and silver pieces at their face value, but had money 
scales and weighed each piece to ascertain its actual value. Robert 
Barns, the Irish schoolmaster, who settled in the Cove, died in 1802; 
and among his personal effects listed by the appraisers was one 
money scales. 

At the July term in 1801, on the 16th day of the month, the 
sheriff of Tazewell made his first return on an attachment, which 
had been sued out by Richard Pemberton vs. Solomon Roe. The 
return is both unique and amusing, and is as follows : 

"Executed on one fur hat, two hunting shirts and one close 
bodied coat." At the August term judgment was given the plain- 
tiff against the defendent for three pounds, twelve shillings and 
four pence; and the property aforesaid was ordered to be sold by 
the sheriff to satisfy the judgment. 

On the 16th of July the court entered its first order fixing 
tavern rates in the county as follows : 

"Ordered that the tavern rates for this county be as follows, 
to- wit : 

For a dinner 25c 

For a breakfast or supper 17c 

For lodging in clean sheets (one shilling) 1 

For whiskey by the half Pint (one shilling) S 

For rum, French Brandy or wine by the half pt 25c 

For Cider, Beer or Mathalgalum by the quart (one) S 

For Peach or apple Brandy by the half Pint 121/^ cts 

For corn oats or barley by the gallon (one shilling) S 

For stable for hay or fodder for 12 hours I2I/2 cts 

Por Pasturage for 12 hours 12l/^ cts 

TH.— 31 



482 History of Tazewell County 

In fixing the rates to be charged by the tavern keepers the first 
county court of Tazewell did not exercise arbitrary power, but 
responded to the requirements of an act of the General Assembly 
enacted on the 26th of December, 1792. The act was mandatory; 
and required "every county court in this Commonwealth to set the 
rates and prices to be paid at all ordinaries within their respective 
counties, for liquors, diet, lodging, provender, stableage, fodder 
and pasturage, with authority to increase or lessen the rates at 
pleasure. This fixing of rates had to be done at least twice in each 
year. 

The first tavern rates fixed in Tazewell were very reasonable, 
and the bibulous citizens could not complain of the excessive prices 
charged for liquors. One of the beverages named in the above table 
of rates, "Mathalgalum," was a peculiar liquor and is unknown in 
this day and generation. It was something like the nectar of the 
gods ; and was made of honey and water, boiled and fermented, and 
often enriched with spices. The Roman name for this drink was 
"methegline." Pliny in his Natural History, published A. D. 
seventy-seven, declared it has all the bad qualities of wine but not 
the good ones. It was a very popular beverage in ancient times, 
both with the cultured nations of Southern Europe and the bar- 
barous tribes of the Northern regions. The Anglo-Saxons intro- 
duced it into England, and called it mead. The recipe for this once 
popular beverage was bi'ought from the old countries by our ances- 
tors, but they found no material in the wilderness with which they 
could make it when they came here. In fact, the honey or hive bees 
were not indigenous to America. They are natives to the warm 
climates of the Old World, that is, EurojDC, Asia, and Africa; and 
were brought to America from Europe by the Spanish, French, and 
English colonists, became naturalized here, and followed the white 
men into the forests. 

David Ward and Samuel Walker were appointed commissioners 
at the first term of the court to contract for the building of a jail; 
and at the September term, 1800, David Ward, Samuel Walker, 
James Thompson, and George Peery were appointed commissioners 
to advertise for bids for building a court house. I find that William 
Smythe (Smith) contracted to build the jail and William Williams 
the court house. Among the first claims against the county allowed 
by the court were those held by these contractors. All the out- 



and Southwest Virginia 483 

standing claims were as follows and were, on the 11th of September, 
1801, ordered to be paid: 

William Smythe, for building jail $220.00 

William Williams, for building court house 938.00 

Joseph Moore, for laying off lots in Jeffersonville.. 12.00 
Samuel Walker, David Ward, and George Peery, 

for letting out contract for court house 20.00 

Samuel Walker and David Ward, for lettting out 

contract for jail 6.00 

William George, for Brandy at letting out of the 

building of the court house 1.50 

Thomas Harrisson, for Rum and Brandy at selling 

of the front and back lots 4.16 

William George, John Crockett, James Witton, and 

Thomas Harrisson as commissioners to attend 

the laying off of the Town lots 16.00 

Hezekiah Harman, for surveying the public lands.. 5.25 
Henry Harman, for trouble sustained in holding 

the first court at his house 2.00 

At the April term of the court in 1802, William Smythe, builder 
of the jail, presented a claim "for extraordinary services done to 
said jail amounting to forty pounds and sixteen shillings" There- 
upon the court "went and viewed the extraordinary services," and 
were of the opinion that thirty pounds and sixteen sliillings was 
an allowance fully adequate for the services. Smythe at first 
refused to receive this amount, but subsequently accepted it. 

The court house was a frame structure, and must have been a 
pretty neat and commodious building, as it cost the county about 
one thousand dollars, though the finest timber in those days was 
almost valueless. It was erected on the lot where the temporary 
court house had been built by the citizens in June, 1800, and was 
used until it was destroyed by fire in the thirties of the last century. 

Thomas Harrisson was granted leave at the April term, in 1802, 
to keep an ordinary at his home in Jeffersonville. This gave the 
town three tavei'ns, but not more than enough to accommodate the 
persons who came to town, especially on court days. 

The proceedings of the county court of Tazewell, recorded in 
the first order book, are very instructive as to the character and 



484 



History of Tazewell County 



purposes of the citizenship of the county. That the people were 
intelligent, ambitious and industrious is proven by the deep interest 
they took in their local affairs, and the dispatch with which the 
county government was put in operation. The justices were men 
of high character and sound common sense — a dignified body of 
patriotic citizens. The county courts in Virginia at that time were 
given a very extensive jurisdiction. They liad "autliority and juris- 
diction to hear and determine all causes whatsoever, then depending 




The present court house of Tazewell County. It is hardly equal 
in its appointments to the needs and impoi'tance of the county, but 
is a very imposing structure when compared with the little log house 
first used as a temple of justice. 

or thereafter to be brought, or which should thereafter be brought 
in any of the said courts at the Common Law or in Chancery, and 
criminal cases, except such as where the judgment upon conviction 
would involve capital punishment, and prosecutions for outlawry. 
This very amj^jle jurisdiction, however, did not inflate the excellent 
men who composed Tazewell's first county court, or cause them to 
swerve from what they thought was right in making their judicial 
decisions. Even when the dignity of the court was involved they 
were conservative in defending it against contempts, as is evidenced 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 485 

by the following orders entered by the court on the 14th of July, 
1803: 

"Ordered that David Waggoner be fined in the sum of five dol- 
lars for raising a riot in the presence of the Court. 

"Ordered that Abraham Davis be fined in the sum of two dollars 
and thirty four cents for raising a riot in the presence of the Court. 

"Ordered that Abraham Davis be fined in the sum of one dollar 
& sixty six cents for swearing two oaths in the presence of the 
Court." 



486 History of Tazewell County 



CHAPTER II. 

BOUNDARIES AND TOPOGRAPHY OF TAZKWELL COUNTY. 

A few years after the creation and organization of Tazewell 
County, certain citizens of Russell County, who lived on territory 
adjoining Tazewell County, jietitioned the General Assembly to 
have the line between the two counties so altered as to place the 
said territory in the limits of Tazewell. The petition was acted 
upon favorably by the Legislature, and on the 20th day of Decem- 
ber, 1806, the following act was passed: 

"Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That all that part of 
the county of Russell within the following bounds, to wit: Begin- 
ning on the top of Clinch Mountain at the head of Cove Creek on 
the line dividing the counties of Russell and Tazewell, and to run 
a straight line* from thence to Jacob P'rancisco's Mill, from thence 
a direct line to Daniel Hortons, (to include his dwelling house in 
Tazewell,) from thence a straight line to the mouth of Cole Creek, 
and to extend on the same direction till it intersects the line which 
divided the state of Virginia from Kentucky, shall be, and it is 
hereby added to, and made a part of the covmty of Tazewell." 

The county, as then formed, was bounded on the north by Kana- 
wha County, on the south by Wythe and Washington, on the east 
by Giles, and on the west by Russell and the State of Kentucky. 
In 1806 the whole of the present McDowell County, a part of 
Wyoming, a part of Mercer County, West Virginia; and about one- 
half of Buchanan, and a pai't of Giles and Bland were embraced 
in the bounds of Tazewell County. If Tazewell still possessed all 
this territory, she would be the richest county in the world, as she 
is now one of the most noted and best in the United States. 

Dr. Bickley in his history of Tazewell County, in the chapter 
headed: "Formation, And Outline Geography of Tazewell, says 
of the county as it then existed: 

"The county is bounded on the north by the State of Kentucky, 
Logan and Wj'oming counties, Virginia; on the east by Mercer and 
Giles ; on the south by Wythe and Smyth and on the west by Rus- 



and Southwest Virginia 487 

sell. It has a superficial area of about 1^920,000 square acres, or 
3,000 square miles, and is traversed by numerous ranges of the 
Alleghany and Cumberland mountains. Clinch, one of the principal 
mountains, passes through it in an easterly and westerly direction, 
about forty miles. This mountain was named, as will be seen in 
the chapter on mountains, in consequence of Clinch river. Rich 
mountain passes through the county about twenty miles; it is a 
branch of the Clinch. Garden and Brushy mountains are in the 
southern part of the county, the latter being the county line; they 
run parallel with Clinch mountain. Paint Lick and Deskins moun- 
tains are also parallel and north of the Rich mountain. They are 
parts of the same range with East river and Elk-horn, being sepa- 
rated by the Clinch, in the valley in which stands the town of 
Jeffersonville. There are no other mountains deserving of notice, 
at this place, except the Great Flat Top, in the north-east corner 
of the county. 

"The county is traversed by many streams; some of considerable 
size; the principal of which are Clinch river, Bluestone, La Visee, 
Dry, and Tug forks of Sandy river and their branches. The Clinch 
river rises from three springs; the first on the 'divides' about ten 
miles east of the town of Jeffersonville; the second in the valley 
between the Elk-horn (now called Buckhorn) and Rich mountains; 
the third in Thompson's valley, about eight miles south-east of the 
county seat. The two first unite about one and a half miles east 
of Jeffersonville, and flow, in a westerly direction, about twenty- 
five miles, and unite with the Maiden-Spring fork, and thence flow 
through Russell, Scott, Lee, and a part of Tennessee, and after 
receiving the Powell river, empty into the Tennessee about sixty 
miles above Kingston. 

"Bluestone creek rises in the eastern part of the county; flows 
in a north easterly direction, and empties into the Great Kanawha. 
The different branches of the Sandy River, rising in this county, 
flow in a northerly direction and empty into the Ohio." 

All the mountains mentioned by Bickley, except the Great Flat 
Top, still traverse Tazewell County, but they are greatly changed 
in appearance. They have been practically denuded of the splen- 
did forest trees that crowned their peaks and magnified the won- 
drous beauty of each mountain side from crest to valley beneath. 



488 History of Tazewell County 

Rich bluegrass pastures are now seen^ and charm the eye, where 
giant poplar^ walnut, sugar maple, hickory and other magnificent 
forest trees grew in abundance. Kent's Ridge, which runs through 
the county north of the Clinch River, as late as 1852 was almost a 
continuous forest for its entire length; and all the ridges in the 
numerous valleys were similarly wooded. The rivers and creeks 
are also greatly altered in their appearance. They are not as trans- 
parently clear, nor nearly as large in volume as they were in the 
early days of the county. The present condition of the streams 
is due largely to the destruction of the forests. 

THE MOUNTAINS. 

Bickley in his "Descriptive Geography" of the county writes 
further about its mountains. In 1852, the Jeffersonville Historical 
Society, headed by the scholarly Dr. Fielding Peery, was in exist- 
ence, but its valuable records have been lost. From the papers of 
the Society, Dr. Bickley gained much of his information, and he 
thus further describes our mountains : 

"The principal mountains of Tazewell are Clinch, Rich, East 
River, Brushy, Garden, Paint Lick, Deskins, and Flat Top. They 
have an elevation, above the valleys, of about eight hundred feet, 
and about three thousand above the level of the sea. For remarks 
upon their geological formation I would refer the reader to the 
Transactions of the Jeffersonville Histoi'ical Society. The general 
course of these mountains is N. 67° E. 

"Clinch mountain, which receives its name from Clinch river, 
extends through the entire length of the county. It has several 
gaps, through which wagon-roads pass. 

"Rich mountain, so called from the character of its soil, is a 
branch or spur of Clinch mountain, running parallel to it, its entire 
length. 

"East River mountain, so called from a stream of that name 
flowing along near its base, begins a few miles east of Jeffersonville, 
and runs parallel to the Rich mountain to the county line on the 
east. 

"Brushy mountain, receiving its name from the brushy character 
of its growth on the soutli side, runs in the same direction as the 
Clinch, and forms the southern boundary line of the county. 



and Southwest Virginia 489 

"Faint Lick mountain is a continuation of the House and Barn 
mountain in Russell county, and is separated from it by the Maiden 
Spring fork, of Clinch river. There was once a great elk and deer 
lick, near its western end, and there are many paintings (still 
visible), supposed to have been executed by the Shawnee Indians, or 
perhaps, by the Cherokees. The paintings represent birds, women, 
Indian warriors, etc. From these paintings, the lick was named, 
which was soon applied to the mountain. It rises near the western 
county line and runs in the general direction to near Jeffersonville: 
it here sinks, to admit the passage of another fork of Clinch river, 
and again rises, forming Elkhorn mountain. 

"Deskin's mountain, so called from an early settler, runs par- 
allel, and near the Paint Lick, for about the same distance. 

"The Great Flat Top, rises from a spur of the Cumberland 
mountains which traverses the county. It is in the north-east corner 
of the county, and on it, corner Tazewell, Mercer, and Wyoming 
counties. It receives its name from a large level area on its summit. 

NAMES OF RIVERS. 

How the rivers and other streams in Tazewell acquired the 
names they now bear is an interesting matter of history. Bickley, 
in accounting for the name given Clinch River makes use of the 
absurd stories told in his day. He says: 

"Clinch river heads in this county and receives its name from 
an incident which occurred on it in 1767. A hunter named Castle, 
left Augusta and went to what is now Russell county, to hunt with 
a iDarty of friendly Indians, who were living on it. This tribe 
made frequent visits to the settlement, carrying off horses, and 
such other stock as they could get hold of. A man named Harman, 
who was robbed of some things, and believing Castle to be the 
instigator to these acts, applied to a Mr. Buchanan, a justice of 
Augusta, for a writ to arrest Castle and bring him to trial. The writ 
was issued, and a party raised to arrest him, among whom was a 
lame man named Clinch. The party went to Castle's camp and 
attempted to arrest him, but the Indians joined Castle, and Har- 
man's party were forced to retreat across the river. 

"In the hurry of the moment, Clinch got behind, and while ford- 
ing the river was shot by an Indian, wlio rushed forward to secure 



490 History of Tazewell County 

his scalp, but was shot by one of Harman's party. The vulgar 
tradition is, that an Indian was pursuing a white man, who clinched 
and drowned the Indian in the stream. I had the former statement, 
however, from a grandson of the magistrate who issued the warrant 
for Castle's apprehension." 

Both of these stories are without foundation. The river was 
known as the Clinch to explorers and sui'veyors seventeen years 
prior to 1767, the date of the Castle incident, as related by Bickley. 
When Dr. Thomas Walker, made his famous expedition to Cumber- 
land Gap and Kentucky, he noted in his journal on the 9th of April, 
1750: "We traveled to a river which I suppose to be that which 
the hunters call Clinche's River, for one Clinch, a Hunter who first 
found it." Dr. Walker and his party had that day reached the 
Clinch at some point in the present Hancock County, Tennessee. 
They found the stream too deep to carry their baggage across with 
safety on their pack-horses and made a raft to get it to the north 
side of the river. 

Colonel John Buchanan, deputy surveyor for Augusta County, 
on the l-ith of October, 1750, surveyed for one John Shelton the 
"Crabapple Orchard" tract of 650 acres, and, in his official capacity, 
recorded in the surveyor's book of Augusta the tract as situated on 
the waters of Clinch River. This is the same tract of land upon 
which Thomas Witten settled in 1767. And on the 16th of October, 
1750, Colonel Buchanan surveyed for John Shelton another ti-act 
of 1,000 acres located on a "Branch of Clinch River." It is more 
than probable the second tract was situated on Plum Ci-eek. 

The hunters had given tlie name to the river, "from one Clinch 
a Hunter," a sufficient length of time before Dr. Walker made his 
expedition to enable him to recognize it as the Clinch as soon as he 
came upon it in Tennessee. So it was with Colonel Buchanan when 
he was in Tazewell in 1750 surveying tracts of land that had been 
sold by the Loyal Company. He and his surveying party then 
knew the stream as Clinch River. These two facts, that are of 
record, not only controvert the mythical stories related from tradi- 
tion to Dr. Bickley, but show clearly that Tazewell's first historian 
was in error when he stated that it was in 1766 that the first hunt- 
ing party came to Tazewell County. It is evident that hunting 
parties came here some years prior to 1750; and the first party, it 



and Southwest Virginia 



491 



is reasonable to suppose, was lead by a man named Clinch, whose 
companions named the river in honor of their leader or most popular 
companion. 

With these facts in possession, I undertook, by searching the 
old records in the State Land Office at Richmond, to discover if 
any man named Clinch was living in Virginia about the time Dr. 
Walker made his expedition through Southwest Virginia to Ken- 
tucky. I found record of only one man of that name, William 
Clinch. In Patent Book No. 29, I found a patent recorded, for 




Residence of the late Col. Wilk Witten, son of James Witten, 
the scout. It was built in 1838, just in front of where James Witten's 
log cabin stood, is a brick sti-ucture, and of a style of architecture 
popular in that day. 

5,300 acres of land in Limenburg County, which had been issued on 
November 3rd, 1750, to Wm. Clinch. It is known, from tradition, 
and also from existing records, that, previous to and after 1750, 
hunting parties came from Southside Virginia and also from Tide- 
water to hunt in the Clinch and Holston valleys. They were called 
"Long Hunters", because they came prepared to stay for several 
months each trip ; and they hunted for profit, not for sport, nor 
to procure meat as did the Indians. Sometimes they would kill 
more than a thousand splendid animals on a single hunting trip — 
buffalo, elk, bear, deer, and other kinds that were valuable for their 
hides. They would take great numbers of their hides on pack- 
horses to Tidewater, where they brought fine prices for shipment 



492 



History of Tazewell County 



to England and other European countries. It is very probable that 
William Clinch came from Southside Virginia with the first party 
of Long Hunters that visited the Clincli Valley; and that the river 
and the mountain that bear the name Clinch received it from him. 
The Indian name for the river was Pellissippi. 

The Big Sandy gets its name from the many sand bars that were 
found in the bed of tJie stream. Difi'erent tribes of Indians called 
it Tatteroi, Chatteroi, and Chatterawha, The Miamis called it 
We-pe-po-ne-ce-pe-we. The Delawares called it Si-ke-a-ee-pCj Salt 
River. And Little Sandy was called Tan-ga-te Si-ke-a-ce-pe-we, or 
Little Salt River. Three of the branches of Big Sandy River had 




The first residence of Samuel Cecil, built in 1814. It stands 
north of and overlooking Clinch River, opposite the mouth of Plum 
Creek, and is three miles west of the county seat. It was originally 
a two-story double log house, and was later weatherboarded. The 
floors are made of yellow locust lumber and are as hard as polished 
metal. The author's mother, daughter and eldest child of Samuel Cecil, 
was bom in 1815 and was reared, and married to my father, in this 
house. It is now owned by Mrs. O. E. Hopkins, a great-granddaughter 
of Samuel Cecil, and is used as a tenant house. 

their source in Tazewell when the county was first formed. These 
were the Louisa, Dry Fork, and Tug Fork. Since 1858, when 
Buchanan and McDowell were taken from Tazewell, only one of 
the branches, Dry Fork, has its head in the county. Bickley said 
in 1852: "La Visee (Louisa) has many branches in Tazewell, and 
is navigable for flat-boats, to the county line. The first white man 
who ascended it was a Frenchman, who found a well-executed 
design or painting upon a peeled poplar ; hence its name — -"ra" trans- 
lated, meaning the, and "visee," meaning a design, aim, or repre- 
sentation. It is sometimes called Louisa fork, from Louisa C. H., 
Kentucky, near its junction with the Tug River." 



\ 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 493 

This river should be called Louisa. Dr. Thomas Walker dis- 
covered and named it "Louisa River/' on June 7th, 1750, when he 
was returning from his expedition to Kentucky, Captain Dan 
Smith was deputy surveyor of Fincastle County, and made numer^ 
ous surveys for Dr. Walker, who was the agent of the Loyal Com- 
pany. Captain Smith made a map in 1774 on which he laid down 
the headwaters of the Holston, Clinch and Sandy rivers. On this 
map he placed the headwaters "of a River Commonly called Louisa." 
As he was then actively engaged surveying tracts of land for the 
Loyal Company in the present Russell and Tazewell counties, it 
is evident he was told by Dr. Walker the name of the river, 
"Louisa." Smith's map shows that it is a branch of Sandy River. 

East River was given its name by the white settlers, because 
it flows in an easterly direction. The Miamis called it Nat-weo- 
ce-pe-we, and the Delawares named it Ta-le-mo-te-no-ce-pe. 

Bluestone River, among the rivers of Tazewell, is second only 
to the Clinch in historical interest. This river was so named by the 
white settlers from the deep blue limestone over which it flows, 
which tends to give a clear blue color to the water in the stream. It 
also flows in an easterly direction and empties into New River in 
the present Summers County, West Virginia. The Miami Indians 
called it Mee-ce-ne-ke-ke-ce-pcrwe ; and the Delawares named it 
Mo-mon-ga-sen-eka-ce-pe, or Big Stone Creek. 

Wolf Creek rises in Burke's Garden, passes through the gap, 
which is the only outlet for water from the Garden, flows down 
through the rugged breaks between Rich and Garden mountains, 
enters Bland County and runs on to and through Rocky Gap, thence 
to New River, entering that stream at the Narrows in Giles County. 
The early settlers found so many wolves along and about the 
stream, from its source to its confluence with New River, that they 
naturally gave it the name of Wolf Creek. 

There are a hundred or more creeks and branches in the present 
bounds of Tazewell County that have received their names from 
their peculiar location, or some traditional incident. Owing to their 
large number, only the most noted ones can be mentioned in this 
volume. 

Laurel Fork, a branch of the North Fork of Holston River, 
has its source at the head of Poor Valley, about ten miles southeast 
of the town of Tazewell. It is a beautiful freestone stream and 



494 



History of Tazewell County 



runs a westerly course down the valley some fifteen miles to the 
Smyth County line, where it turns south, and, after passing through 
Laurel Gap, empties into the North Fork of Holston about half a 
mile from the gap. 

Great Indian Creek, in what is called the Sinking Waters, has 
its head about fifteen miles west of the county seat. Its course 
is southerly to the Clinch, entering tliat river at a point about six- 
teen miles west of Tazewell, where the hamlet known as "Indian" 




This old mill is still standing in Plum Creek Gap, about half a mile 
below the point where the big spring that is the source of the creek 
gushes from the mountain side. 

formerly stood, but where the present thrifty town of Cedar Bluff 
is now located. A man named Raj^ and his entire family were 
massacred by the Indians on the creek in 1788, or 1789; and from 
this incident the stream got its name. One of the springs at its 
head petrifies vegetable matter, such as nuts, twigs from trees, etc. 
I have been sliown specimens of these petrifactions. 

Clear Fork, a branch of Wolf Creek, heads six miles east of 
Tazewell. It flows easterly through the narrow, but beautiful Clear 
Fork Valley for a distance of about twenty miles, and joins Wolf 
Creek at Rocky Gap. 

Plum Creek is one of the most historic streams in the county, 



and Southwest Virginia 495 

and received its name from the large number of wild plum trees the 
first settlers found growing about its borders. Its principle source 
is in the gap of Rich Mountain, known as Plum Creek Gap, about 
three miles southwest of the court house. 

In 1852 the creek that rises in Ward's, or Barns' Cove, was 
known as Cove Creek. Now another stream bears that name. 
This Cove Creek has its source in Nye's Cove on the south side of 
East River Mountain, about twelve miles northeast of Tazewell. 
It passes through a gap in Buckhorn Mountain, and empties into 
Clear Fork at the old Peter Dills place. On the 1st of October, 
1789, a party of Indians entered the home of Thomas Wiley, who 
lived half a mile above the mouth of Cove Creek, and made cap- 
tives of Mrs. Virginia Wiley and her four children. As they were 
going up Cove Creek the Indians killed the four children, but took 
Mrs. Wiley to their towns in Ohio. She afterwards made her escape 
in company with a man named Samuel Lusk. 

Laurel Creek is now one of the most noted streams in Tazewell 
Count}'. It passes directly through the town of Pocahontas; and 
near its banks the first coal was mined for shipment from the Poca- 
hontas coal fields. Dr. Thomas Walker, when returning from his 
expedition to Kentucky in 1750, camped on Laurel Creek, and made 
a note in his journal of the coal he fovmd there. 

Big Creek also has come prominently into notice in recent years. 
This creek rises in the southern slopes of Sandy Ridge about twenty 
miles west of the county seat and near the dividing line between 
Buchanan and Tazewell counties. It flows in a southerly dix*ection 
and joins the Clinch at Richlands. There are several large coal 
operations on its upper waters, from which many thousands of tons 
of coal are being mined and shipped annually. 



496 History of Tazewell County 

CHAPTER III. 

INTERESTING SECTIONS OF COUNTY THE HEAD OF CLINCH VALLEY. 

That section of a county where the seat of justice is located 
is generally the most important, because of the location of the county 
government at that particular point. The valley in which the county 
seat of Tazewell is placed has added importance on account of its 
unexcelled physical beauty and unsurpassed fertility of soil. This 
valley has a length of seven miles and extends from tlie west end 
of East River and Buckhorn mountains to the east end of Paint 
Lick and Deskins mountains. It is bounded on the south by Rich 
Mountain and on the north by Kent's Ridge ; and, with the northern 
slopes of the mountain and the southern slopes of the Ridge, 
included, has an average width of about four miles. Within these 
bounds there are about 1 8,000 acres of as good land as can be found 
anywhere on the North American Continent. The main fork of 
Clinch River meanders through it. Plum Creek heads in a gap 
of Rich Mountain, about three miles south of the town of Tazewell 
and flows a northerly course across the valley, joining the Clinch 
about a half a mile above the place where the first settler, Thomas 
Witten, built his cabin. Cavitt's Creek finds its source in the 
southern sloj^es of Stony Ridge, runs through a gap in Kent's 
Ridge, and unites with the Clinch, a mile above the mouth of Plum 
Creek. Scores of limpid branches flow down from the mountains, 
ridges and hills and find their way into the river, or into one or 
the other of the two above named creeks. Thousands of crystal 
springs burst forth from the mountains, ridges and hills and even 
in the lowlands, and are the sources of the numerous branches that 
create the creeks and the historic Clinch River. It is impossible to 
find anywhere on the earth the same quantity and quality of land 
that is more abundantly supplied with pure, flowing water. 

It was in this immediate section of Tazewell that the first set- 
tlers — the Wittens, the Harmans, the Peerys, the Wynnes, the 
Cecils, and others- — located with their families. Two of the first 
three forts built by the pioneers of tiie Clinch Valley, were erected 
in this area — Thomas Witten's, at the "Crabapple Orchard," and 
William Wynne's, at "Locust Hill." 



and Southwest Virginia 



497 



\ 



The scenic grandeur of this particular valley and the mountains 
that encompass it^ is beyond description. Its most conspicuous and 
gigantic feature is Dial Rock. This rock is the face of one of the 
three heads of East River Mountain that stand at the eastern 
extremity of the valley. It is composed of several cliffs, which, 
viewed from a distance, present the appearance of a single rock. How 
it received its name is not known. There is an old story, handed 
down by tradition, that in the pioneer days a natural sun-dial, which 
correctly measured the time of day, was found upon the rock. It 




This exquisitely beautiful scene shows the Exhibition Grounds of 
the Tazewell Fair Association with the Fair in full swing. In the 
background can be seen the two principal faces of East River Moun- 
tain. The tall peak at the right is crowned and faced with Dial Rock. 

is more reasonable to believe that it got its name from the man 

named Dial, who was living in that vicinity, and was killed by the 

Indians on the 11th of April, 1786. 

The summit of the rocks is about fifteen hundred feet above 

the valley and the Clinch River, which stream flows not very far 

from the base of the mountain. Dr. Bickley, who scaled the cliffs 

in 1852, made an estimate of their elevation, and he says: "These 

cliffs are from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty feet 

above the common level of the mountain; and seem as if some 

internal commotion had started them from the bowels of the earth, 

to awe and affright the eye that should dare look from their tops." 

The view from the pinacle of Dial Rock is very extensive and 
T.H. — 32 



498 



History of Tazewell County 



ravishingly beautiful. Bickley, who stood upon the "sixth rock" 
sixty-seven years ago, thus describes the view one has from the 
height : 

"Mountains rise above mountains, in endless succession, till far 
in the smoky distance his vision ceases to distinguish tlie faint out- 
line of the Cumberland and the Tennessee mountains. Looking 
to the north he sees the great Flat Top, from which others gradually 
fade into indistinctness, and in imagination seems to say, There, 




View of a portion of the town of Tazewell. Wynne's Peak is seen 
in the background. The location of the town is physically of such 
a character as to make it impossible to get a complete view of the 
place in one picture. 

there is the valley of the beautiful Ohio — the garden of commerce 
and industry. To the west, rises Morris' Knob, the highest jjoint of 
Rich mountain, its summit kissing the very clouds, and seeming to 
bid defiance to the storms of heaven. To the right, rise Paint 
Lick and Deskins mountains, and nearly behind them, the rocky 
peaks of House and Barn mountains, in Russell county. Far in 
the distance, are seen ranges of Clinch mountain and its various 
spurs. To the left, is seen Wolf Creek Knob, a continuation of 
Rich mountain. Close at hand, the rocky sides and top of Elkhorn 
(Buckhorn), and far in the distance, ridges of the Alleghany range. 
From this beautiful scene the eye is directed down to the valley 



and Southwest Virginia 



499 



when a disposition to shrink back is felt. * * * -phe scene, 
in the distance, is beautiful beyond description. The scene around 
him is sublime beyond conception. It is beyond the power of the 
wildest imagination to picture half its grandeur." 

Dr. Bicklej' failed to mention "The Peak," which towers above 
the town of Tazewell. This peak was known in the early days of 
the county as Wynne's Peak, receiving its name from William 
Wynne, the pioneer; and the name should be restored. The sum- 



,lgL»3l#Ujr^, 



_^ » f rP«r^ ^ J, -" 






'^^^^^i^^. 



View of another section of the town of Tazewell. Rich Mountain 
is visible at the eastern background of the picture. 

mit is 4,250 feet above sea level and has an elevation of 1,716 feet 
above the town which is nestled at the base of Rich Mountain. From 
its lofty pinacle the view is equally as far-reaching and entrancing 
as that one gets from Dial Rock. Persons who have climbed the 
peak at the end of Paint Lick Mountain, say that the view of the 
valley from that point is more exquisitely beautiful than it is from 
either Dial Rock or Wynne's Peak. 

The Clinch Valley Branch of the Norfolk & Western Railway 
runs east and west through the valley its entire length. Two 
splendid modern macadam roads pass through it from east to west — 



500 History of Tazewell County 

one hugging the foot hills of Rich Mountain^ and passing through 
the county seat — and the other running along Clinch River, and 
passing through North Tazewell. There are two incorporated 
towns — Tazewell and North Tazewell — in the valley. 

When the pioneers came to this valley it was the habitat of 
a large variety of wild animals. It was the home of the buffalo, 
elk, black bear, Virginia or white-tailed deer, panther, wolf, otter, 
beaver, red and gray fox, and many other kinds of small animals. 
Of the larger animals none but the bear and an occasional deer are 
now ever found in the limits of the county. 

There had existed in this same valley, many thousands of years 
before the coming of the pioneers, another variety of animals. 
The mastodon, nearly allied to the elephant of the present age, 
once lived in this valley and fed upon the abundant herbage that 
then grew here. This was during what Sir Charles Lyell, the emi- 
nent geologist, named the post-pliocene period; but he and other 
geologists have failed to reckon how many thousands of years 
have passed since that period ended. Fragmentary fossil remains 
of the mastodon have been found at several points in this valley. 
Some 5'ears ago when a ditch was being dug near the present resi- 
dence of Mr. J. P. Kroll, in the town of Tazewell, several fossil 
teeth of a mastodon were unearthed. In 1893 the late Andrew 
M. Peery, when having a ditch dug in the meadow near the sulphur 
spring on his father's, the late Captain Wm. E. Peery 's, place, 
came upon the fragmentary fossil remains of a four-tusked mastodon 
(tricophodon Miocene). He secured and carefully preserved con- 
siderable parts of an upper and of a lower tusk, and also several 
of the large teeth of the huge beast. They are still kept in the 
cabinet of the late Captain Wm. E. Peery, 

Similiar remains have been found in the recently discovered 
asphalt pits at Los Angeles, California. The most notable con- 
tempary mammals of the four-tusked elephant or mastodon were: 
the saber-toothed tigers, lions, giant wolves, immense cave bears, 
large wild horses, camels, mammoths with tusks 15 feet long, and 
giant ground sloths. These and many other species, large and small, 
in great numbers, once lived on the plains of Southern California. 
It is more than possible that the same animals were abundant here 
at tlie same period. 



and Southwest Virginia 501 

burke's garden. 

That splendid section of Tazewell called Burke's Garden, though 
lying outside the great Clinch Valley, is considered by many persons 
the finest section of the county. It is also a region of muc h historic 
importance. In preceding chapters it has been told how the beau- 
tiful basin got its name from Jam es Burk e, the pioneer hunter ; and 
elsewhere in this volume I have related many interesting incidents 
connected with its discovery and settlement. Several years ago 
Mr. E. L. Greever, who is now one of the most prominent lawyers 
of Tazewell's able bar, wrote an excellent sketch of Burke's Garden, 
which, for some reason, was never published, though very merito- 
rious and complete. Mr. Greever was born and reared in the Garden, 
and his ancestors were among its earliest settlers. His knowledge 
of the Garden is so ample and accurate that I have concluded to 
adopt his description of its physical beauties and outlines. It is 
as follows: 

"Burke's Garden is not a valley in the ordinary sense of the 
term. It is rather a basin. Clinch Mountain is an unbroken range 
for many miles between Thompson Valley and Poor Valley. Towards 
the east it rises in altitude until it suddenly stops in the jumble of 
mountains called Bear Town. Here, is one of the highest points in 
Virginia, nearly 4,800 feet above the level of the sea. From this 
highest point, the mountain extends away in a grand sweep to the 
north and east, and away in another grand sweep to the south and 
east, until the two branches are again ■ united, many miles away, 
in Round Mountain. Burke's Garden is thus a basin, a cup whose 
rim is an unbroken range of mountains. From northeast to south- 
east it is ten miles long, and from southeast to northwest it is five 
miles wide. Only one natural opening in this massive fence exists, 
and through it all the water passes out to the sea. This opening is 
an abrupt, deep notch, cut straight through the mountain. The 
pass is strewn with great boulders, the wreckage left by the long 
contest of water and stone. Men have made other roads into the 
valley, but this is the one mighty gateway constructed by nature. 

"Many theories as to the formation of Burke's Garden have been 
advanced. By many it is believed that in the general upheaval of 
the country, this place was left much as it is now, that the basin 
was soon filled with water, and that the water finally broken through 



502 



History of Tazewell County 



the barrier that held it^ leaving the fertile bed of the lake to become^ 
in time, a beautiful valley. 

"Others maintain that the upheaval broke up the hard sand- 
stone over a large area, but left it intact on the mountain sides, 
and that erosion has made Burke's Garden. 

"It has been suggested that the rim of mountains now marks 
the outline of the base of what was once an immense peak, and 
that the top of the peak being soft was gradually worn away. 




The Gap which is the only natural outlet from Burke's Garden. 
When the photo was made of this scene the ground was covered with 
a deep snow. The stream shown is Wolf Creek, and has its source 
in the Garden. It was once a fine trout stream, and the author caught 
his first "speckled beauty," in this creek, about a fourth of a mile 
below the mill, in March, 1863. 

After awhile the hard sandstone was reached and wearing away 
process on the outside was stopped. The upheavel of the peak 
having broken up the strata, the process of disintegration went on 
over the space where the strata were so broken. Thus the hard rim 
was left while the softer rocks of the interior of the peak, the lime- 
stones, gradually wore away until the present state of things 
resulted. In support of this last theory, attention is called by its 
advocates to the remarkable fact that the dip of the strata all the 
way around this mountain rim is toward the outside, very much 



and Southwest Virginia 



503 



as if the giant force had pushed up the horizontal strata until 
they sloped away alike in all directions. 

* * * * 

"Its altitude, nearly thirty-two hundred feet above sea level, 
makes the climate cooler ordinarily than the surrounding country, 
and the seasons in the valley later. The days are seldom uncom- 
fortably warm in summer and the nights are never oppressive. 
* * * When the first settlers reached the place they found the 
climate extremely cold. Corn and wheat would not mature. Wheat 




Rev. John J. Greever was bom in Burke's Garden in 1811 and 
died in June, 1877. He was a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church, was an able theologian and a splendid pulpit orator. He was 
a grandson of Philip Greever, the man who fired the first shot at the 
battle of King's Mountain. 

bread was a luxury enjoyed only on Sundays and the flour was pur- 
chased on Wolf Creek. Frosts came late in the spring and eaidy in 
the fall. Fruits, such as apples, peaches, &c., were unknown. Rye 
did remarkably well. The potato found here, its ideal home. 



"The Indians called Burke's Garden 'The Great Swamp.' The 
name, as were most Indians names, was descriptive and peculiarly 
appropriate. The whole expanse of level land, now the very finest 
of bluegrass pasture, was then wet and almost a bog. This was 
caused by the dense undergrowth, for the whole country is of lime- 



504 History of Tazewell County 

stone formation and is unusually well drained naturally. One man 
yet living, remembers the time when a bridle path ran through the 
woods from 'the Gap' to the place where the road to Ceres now 
crosses the mountain ; and he says that the horses had made in the 
mud a succession of steps which closely resembled a stairway. 
There existed an idea among the first settlers that this broad expanse 
of level land was too Avet and swampy for farming purposes ; in 
fact, they regarded it as hardly worth clearing and we find many of 
them, under this delusion, establishing their homes along the central 
ridge and clearing far inferior lands." 

Mr. Greever gives very little credence to some of the traditions 
that have been handed down through several generations about 
Burke's discovery of the Garden, especially the one which tells of 
the hunter's pursuit of a monster Elk from Elk Creek, in Grayson 
County, on, across Cripple Creek, in Wythe County, over three 
mountains into the Garden, and thence across mountains and ridges 
to Elkhorn, in what is now West Virginia. However, Mr. Greever 
does give credit to the story about Burke and a companion hunter 
following a very large buck from their camp in Poor Valley into 
the Garden. And he is of the opinion that Burke, and not Sinclair, 
piloted Colonel Patton to the place. 

The records in the State Land Office at Richmond reveal that 
patents for two boundaries of land, containing 400 and 500 acres, 
respectively, were issued on Sept. 20th, 1748, to James Burke. 
These tracts were situated on Goose Creek in Augusta County ; 
and it is more than probable tliese lands were obtained from Colonel 
Patton, under his grant of 120,000 acres. Burke had been inti- 
mately associated with Patton in some capacity, as he was one of 
the first settlers at the settlement made by Colonel Patton at 
Draper's Meadows in 1748. 

There is an old story to the effect that Burke was to be given 
one thousand acres of the level land in the Garden as compensation 
for showing Patton the country ; and that Colonel Patton and his 
associates did not comply with tlieir contract. In other words, that 
Burke was defrauded. It has also been a tradition that Patton 
made an inclusive survey of all the choice land in the basin, and 
ajipropriated it to himself and his kindred. There is no record in 
existence which shows that any such survey was ever made. In 
fact no surveving was done in the Garden until 175.*?. and this was 



and Southwest Virginia 



505 



under the grant for 800,000 acres to the Loyal Company. A sur- 
veying party composed of Colonel Patton, Colonel John Buchanan, 
Wm. Ingles, James Burke, and possibly others, in that year sur- 
veyed two tracts, one of 345 acres and another of 200 acres, for 
Wm. Ingles. At the same time a tract of 400 acres was surveyed 
for James Burke, and was, no doubt, given him by Colonel Patton 
for services rendered. This was the boundary on which Burke 
built his cabin and made clearings. It was there that Colonel 
Andrew Lewis camped for two days in 1756 with his little army 
that went on the Sandy River expedition; and there his soldiers 




This beautiful landscape shows the location of the house of the 
Floyds when they lived in Burke's Garden. The house stood in the 
grove of sugar trees at the left of the picture. On the right is seen 
the handsome residence of Mr. R. M. Lawson, who now owns one 
thousand acres of the splendid Floyd estate, that consisted originally 
of about three thousand acres. 

found enough potatoes in Burke's patches to supply them with food 
for two days. 

Though it is known that Burke married a widow Griffith, there 
is nothing I can find of record to show that he had, at the time 
he was sojourning in the Garden, any children of his own, or that he 
ever took his family there. His adventurous disposition and avidity 
for hunting caused him, somewhat like Daniel Boone, to lead a wan- 
dering life. He was driven by the Indians from the Garden in 
1756, and, when seeking a place of safety, met the Sandy River 
expedition at, or near. Draper's Valley in the present Pulaski 
County ; and told Colonel Lewis of the visit of the savages to the 



506 History of Tazewell County 

Garden. This was why Lewis marched there without delay, hoping 
that he would get upon the trail of the Indians and destroy them 
before they got back to Ohio. Burke never returned to the Garden. 
There is ample evidence in the records of the county clerk's office 
of Tazewell to show that he disposed of his 400 acre tract to Wm, 
Ingles who had two tracts of land adjoining. It is probable he 
exchanged it for the land he afterwards occupied on New River 
in the present Giles County; and where he had a fort in 1774, near 
the mouth of Sinking Creek. 

When Thomas Ingles moved his family from Abb's Valley to 




The black cross is about the spot where James Burke built his 
cabin in 1763, and where Thomas Ingles' family were made captives 
in 1782. The land belongs to the estate of the late Rufus Thompson. 

Burke's Garden he took up his abode in the house that James Burke 
had built and had occupied during his brief stay in the Garden. 
Ingles enlarged the house, and made other improvements in the way 
of buildings and tlie clearing of land. The records of the county 
court of Tazewell County disproves the tradition that the Indians 
burned the house of Thomas Ingles when they made his family cap- 
tives in 1782. At the same time that Colonel Buchanan made sur- 
veys for Ingles and Burke he surveyed large boundaries of the 
choice lands in the Garden for Colonel James Patton. As preJ- 
viously related, Colonel Patton was killed by the Indians at the 
Draper's Meadows massacre in 1755. He was survived by two 



and Southwest Virginia 



507 



daughters^ Mary, wife of William Thompson, and Margaret, wife 
of Colonel John Buchanan. By his will, which was probated by 
the county court of Augusta County, at Staunton, in November, 
1755, he divided his estate equally between his two daughters. The 
splendid Burke's Garden lands were allotted to Mrs. Mary Thomp- 
son, and they aftei'wards passed to her son. Captain James Patton 
Thompson, grandson and namesake of Colonel Patton. 



I 




Col. Peter Litz was of the first generation bom in Burke's Garden. 
He was of pure German blood, was a man of splendid qualities and 
was one of Tazewell's most highly esteemed citizens. He was born 
April 25th, 1802, and died April 3rd, 1880. 

Mrs. Mary Thompson, or her son James, had, in some way, 
acquired a right to the Burke's Garden lands belonging to the estate 
of Wm. Ingles, including the Burke tract of four hundred acres. 
Captain Thompson moved to the Garden from his former residence 
at Town House, now Chilhowie, in Smyth County. In 1806 he 
instituted a chancery suit in the county court of Tazewell to 
extract from Thomas Ingles his equitable title in the land formerly 
owned by his father, Wm. Ingles. The style of the suit was. James 
Thompson vs. Thomas Ingles; and on the 27th of May, 1806, the 
county court of Tazewell entered a decree from which the following 
extract is taken: 

"This court conceiving the holder of an equitable claim, may 
relinquish the same to the legal proprietor before the same is 



508 



History of Tazewell County 



adjudged to such equitable claimant by adjudication, whereupon the 
court doth order and decree that, in case the heirs, Executors or 
other persons representing William Ingles, Deed., should by adjudi- 
cation or otherwise obtain any lands within the place called Burks 
Garden, in the bill mentioned, that the Defendent do at his own 
costs by Deed of conveyance, convey one third part thereof to the 
said Plaintiff, with general warranty against himself and all other 
persons ; and in case the Heirs, Executors, Administrators, assigns, 
or any person or persons, claiming under William Ingles, Deed, 
should by adjudication or otherwise, obtain four hundred acres of 




Captain George G. Gose was bom in Burke's Garden on January 
28th, 1822, and died November 14th, 1889. He sei-ved in the Confed- 
erate anny for about one year as Captain of Company C, 23rd Bat- 
talion, Va. Inf. Captain Gose passed all his life in Burke's Garden, 
and was one of its most substantial and respected citizens. 

Land in right of James Burke then the court doth order and Decree 
that the said defendent do at his own costs convey unto the Plaintiff 
one thii'd part tliereof, in one entire square so as to include the 
improvements made by the defendant and his father William Ingles, 
and also to include the house xchere Burke, and afterivards said 
defendant resided." 

This decree proves conclusively that James Burke owned and 
occupied, and afterwards abandoned and sold to William Ingles, 
four hundred acres of the best land in the Garden: and that the 



and Southwest Virginia 509 

house that Burke built in 1753 or 1754, plus improvements made 
by William and Thomas Ingles, was standing in 1806. The decree 
of the county court of Tazewell was executed to such an extent as 
to vest the title of the Burke land completely in James Patton 
Thompson. And on the 26th day of April, 1813, Captain James 
Thompson and Margaret, his wife, conveyed by deed to Archibald 
Thompson, "one certain tract or parcel of land in Burke's Garden, 
including the Old Station, containing 300 acres more or less." The 
decree and deed, cited, prove beyond question that James Burke 
was not fraudulently deprived of any land in the Garden, and that 
Thomas Ingles' house was not destroyed by the Indians when they 
made his wife and children captives in 1782. 

I have been unable to ascertain definitely who was the first 
permanent settler in Burke's Garden and when he settled there. 
James Patton Thompson was certainly one of the first, if not the 
first to take up his x-esidence in the Garden. Among the most 
prominent settlers from 1800 to 1820 were: Peter Litz, Philip 
Gose, Philip Greever, Gasper Ritter, John Heninger, George 
Spracher, Peter Gose, John Day, George Rhudy, Mathias Fox, 
William Hall, and James Meek. Nearly all these first settlers 
have many descendants still living in the Garden. 

THE COVE. 

One of the most attractive and noted sections of the county is 
the Cove. It is composed of two distinct but contiguous coves. They 
are known, respectively, as Bowen's and Bams' Cove; and take 
their name from Rees Bo wen, who settled there in 1769; and Robert 
Bams, who located there in 1784 or 1785. The two coves cover 
an area of approximately 5 x 4I/2 miles, and contain about 15,000 
acres of as fine grazing and agricultural land as can be found any 
where on the continent. 

In 1852 Bickley wrote about the Cove as Follows: "This is a 
large area of nearly level land, containing about fifteen square miles, 
and situated at the west end of Thompson's Valley, between Clinch 
and Short mountains, which was evidently, at one time connected 
with the Rich Mountain. The waters seem to have accumulated, 
(in Barns' Cove) and forced a way through that spot now known 
as Maiden Spring. The land is very fertile, well timbered and 
watered, and the surrounding farms in fine order. Add to it the 



510 History of Tazewell County 

adjoining lands and residences of Maj. H. S. Bowen and Col. Rees 
T. Bowen and I know of no section in Tazewell County, of the same 
extent, so desirable. The society is good, and the inhabitants very 
hospitable. I hesitate not to call this the garden spot of Tazewell 
County. It was settled in 1772 by John Craven, who was followed, 
the next year, by Rees Bowen, David Ward, and William Garrison, 
the latter, however, settled on its very edge. The descendants of 
these men are still in the Cove. The Wards, Bowens, Gillespies, 
Barnses, and Youngs, constitute a major part of its population. The 
scenery from here is very fine, and the climate warmer than other 
parts of Tazewell." 

The Wards, Bowens, Barns, and Gillespies, descendants of the 
first settlers, still constitute the greater part of the inhabitants 
and own nearly all the land in the Cove. George Ward lives where 
his ancestor, David Ward, located his home. Rees Bowen, the 
fifth, resides at the old Maiden Spring homestead, in view of the 
spot where his ancestor. Lieutenant Rees Bowen, built his fort in 
the pioneer days. Joseph G. Barns lives near where his great- 
grandfather, Robert Barns, erected his cabin in 1785 or 1786. 
Jeff Gillespie lives on the spot where his ancestor, Thomas Gillespie, 
built his dwelling just after the Revolution. The descendants of 
the pioneer families are almost certain to own and occupy this 
beautiful and fertile section for many coming generations, as the 
present generation are as much wedded to the soil as were their 
pioneer ancestors. As each generation comes and goes, their love 
for this beautiful land seems to grow more intense. 

THOMPSON VALLEY. 

Thompson Valley was one of the sections of the Clinch Valley 
to first attract pioneer settlers; and in this valley the Indians com- 
mitted their first diabolical massacre of white people within the 

bounds of the present Tazewell County. Joseph Martin, John 

111 ^■^- Henry and James King settled in the valley in 1.8JI- On the 8th 
of September, 1774, John Henry and his wife and three cliildren 
were murdered by a band of Indians, led by Logan, the Mingo 
chief. If Martin and King have any descendants now living in the 
county, they are unknown to the author. William Thompson, with 
his family, settled in the valley in 1772, and it received its name 
frotp him. 



{2 



and Southwest Virginia 511 

The area of Thompson Valley is approximately 13 x 2I/2 miles, 
and contains about 20^000 acres of valuable grazing and farming 
land. It lies between Clinch and Rich mountains and runs, from 
its head, a westerly course. On the south side of Rich Mountain, 
within this valley, is found some of the very finest grazing lands 
in Tazewell County. This is the only instance in the county, or 
in Southwest Virginia, where a mountain is equally rich on both 
its north and south side, and this, perhaps, accounts for the name 
given the mountain. 

The Maiden Spring fork of Clinch River, which Captain Dan 
Smith, in surveys he made in 1774 for John Henry and William 
Thompson, called the "South Fork of Clinch River," has its source 
at the head of Thompson Valley. This stream flows down the 
valley a distance of about ten miles, then sinks or enters a cave, 
flows under Rich Mountain, and gushes out about a mile southwest 
of Liberty Hill and flows on down by Maiden Spring. 

There are a number of excellent farms in the valley. The 
Thompsons and other descendants of William Thompson, the 
pioneer, constitute a large share of the population, and own a great 
part of the most valuable lands in the valley. 



POOR VALLEY. 



Just across Clinch Mountain, south of Thompson Valley, and 
running parallel with that valley, is another valley. It lies between 
Clinch and Brushy mountains, and was named by the early settlers. 
Poor Valley, because the land is not as fertile as in the other valleys 
of Tazewell County. But if it was situated in the eastern part 
of the State, it would be considered both fertile and beautiful. 
There is very little, if any, limestone in the valley, which accounts 
for its lack of fertility, as compared with the limestone sections of 
the county. 

Poor Valley constituted a part of Washington and Wythe 
counties until twenty-six years after Tazewell was formed. Then, 
upon the petition of the few citizens who lived in the valley, the 
General Assembly by an act passed on January 4th, 1826, attached 
it to Tazewell County. The Valley has an area of approximately 
17 X II/2 miles, its length being greatly out of proportion to its 
width, and contains about 16,000 acres, most of the land being 
level. 



512 



History of Tazewell County 



At the head of the valley the Laurel Fork of the North Fork 
of Holston River has its source. This beautiful crystal stream 
flows down the valley to the line between Smyth and Tazewell coun- 
ties, passes through Laurel Gap of Brushy Mountain, and enters 
the North Fork of Holston in Smvth County. The water is free- 




Major Otis Caldwell was for many years a resident of Poor 
Valley. He was bom Dec. 12th, 1820, and died Sept. 6th, 1912. He 
held the rank of major in the Confederate aiTny. 

stone and there are many fine springs, some of them of considerable 
volume. The valley is well adapted to fruit culture, and the inhabi- 
tants rarely fail to have an abundant crop of apples. 



BAPTIST VALLEY. 



Bickley says that Baptist Valley received its name "from the 
number of persons belonging to the Baptist denomination of Chris- 
tians, who settled in it." It covers an area of approximately 10 x 
1 miles, contains about 6,400 acres; and lies between Kent's Ridge 
and the ridge that divides the waters of the Clinch and the Dry 
Fork of Sandy River. Among the first settlers in this valley were: 

James and Charles Skeggs, Richard Pemberton, Johnson, 

Thomas Maston, Wiliam Patterson, and John Deskins. 

The farms, generally, are of small acreage, and were badly 
and intensely cultivated until some twenty years ago, when the 
farmers began to handle their land in a scientific manner. At this 



and Southwest Virginia 513 

time there is no part of the county where the lands are more indus- 
triously and skilfully cultivated^ or where the yield per acre is 
more abundant. The Tazewell C. H. and Kentucky Turnpike 
passed through the valley its entire length; and a few years ago 
a part of the road was reconstructed and macadamized and is now 
one of the best roads in the county. It is one of the best fruit grow^ 
ing sections of the county^ and the apple trees rarely fail to bear 
heavily. Tourists who travel through the valley are delighted with 
the scenery, the views from the road being very beautiful. 

RICHLANDS VALLEY. 

The Richlands Valley, which is in the extreme western part of 
the county, is not extensive, but has become one of the busiest and 
most interesting localities in Tazewell. It has an area of 2 x 4 miles, 
or 5,000 acres of very valuable land. The most of it is bottom land 
and lies on the north and south sides of Clinch River, which 
winds its way through the valley. From these fertile river lands 
the place received its name, and in their midst is located the thriv- 
ing and coming town of Richlands. The local industrial enter- 
prises, including nearby coal operations, furnish a good market for 
most of the products of the smaller farmers. 

CLEAR FORK VALLEY. 

The Clear Fork Valley is situated at the extreme east side of 
Tazewell County, and extends from the divide at Gratton, six miles 
east of the Court House, to Rocky Gap in Bland County. That part 
of the valley which lies within Tazewell County has an area approx- 
imately of 81/2 X 2 miles, or 11,000 acres. The valley lies between 
Rich and Buckliorn mountains, and received its name from the 
beautiful creek that is a branch of Wolf Creek. 

When the pioneers came in from the east they traveled up Clear 
Fork, where they found and followed a trail that had been made by 
herds of buffalo and that had been used by Indian hunting and war 
parties in their travels to and from the New River Valley. The 
farms on Clear Fork are not large, but they are fertile and cultivated 
with great industry ; and the products are bountiful. The farmers 
of that section always have something to sell, and they are a thrifty 
and excellent people. 

T.H. — 33 



514 History of Tazewell County 

Wright's valley. 

The valley known as Wright's Valley lies both east and west of 
the divide at Tiptop. In 1772 Major John Taylor settled at the 
extreme west end of the valley, near the place afterwards owned by 
his son Charles, and known as the "Charles Taylor place." Jesse 
Evans settled the same year just west of the village of Tiptop, at 
the place afterwards known as the "Buse Harman place." The 
valley later received its name from a man named Wright ; and it 
was called Wright's Valley as early as 1782. It has an area of 
about 9^ X 1 miles, or 6,000 acres. 

The north fork of Clinch River heads in the western part of 
Wright's Valley, and one of the branches of Bluestone heads in that 
part of the valley east of the divide. When the Indians came up 
Tug Fork to make attacks upon the settlers they always passed 
through Wright's Valley; and Jesse Evans' children were massacred 
by the savages in 1779. Evans was then living at the Buse Harman 
place. There are some excellent farms in the west end of the valley, 
notably that of the late W. G. Mustard, which is now owned by his 
daughter, Mrs. Henry S. Bowen. 

abb's valley. 

The valley in Tazewell County that has been written of and 
talked about most is Abb's Valley. Its area is small when compared 
with some of the most noted localities of the county, but it has been 
given extended notoriety from the tragic fate that befell Captain 
James Moore and his family. The valley received its name from 
Absalom Looney who discovered it while on a hunting and sang- 
digging expedition west of New River. It covers an area bf approx- 
imately 10 X 1 miles, and contains about 6,400 acres of fine grazing 
and farming land. 

When James Moore and Robert Poage moved with their families 
to Abb's Valley, in 1770 or 1771, they found an abundance of pas- 
turage for their stock, as a considerable part of the valley was 
destitute of forest growth, and a heavy bluegrass sod covered the 
open spots. The valley is very cavernous, and, as a result, no 
running surface stream flows down or across it. All the branches 
that come down from the hollows or the ridges, and the springs 
that burst out at the base of the hills sink and enter the caverns. 



and Southwest Virginia 



515 



These create an underground stream that courses down the valley, 
and gushes out as a big spring near the east end of the valley. 

Until the railroad was built to Pocahontas in 1883, Abb's Valley 
was one of the most isolated and inaccessible sections of Tazewell 
County. Pocahontas is just across the ridge that bounds the valley 
on the north, and the water supply of the town is procured from 
the big spring referred to above. A part of the estate of Captain 
James Moore is owned by his great-grandson, Oscar Moore, and 
another part by his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Samuel P. Mustard. 
The greater part of the valley has passed from the possession of 
the descendants of the early settlers. 

THE BLUESTONE VALLEY. 

Of the various valleys in Tazewell County not one is more 
interesting and important than the Bluestone Valley. In extent it 
is equal to Burke's Garden, as its area is 13 x 2^/2 niiles, or 20,000 
acres. The first settlers in this very attractive section were: 
Thomas and James Maxwell, Benjamin Joslin, James Ogleton, 
Jacob and Israel Harman, and Samuel Ferguson. They settled 




Charles Fitzgerald Tiffany, whose father, Hugh Tiffany, was one 
of the early settlers in the Bluestone Valley. He married a daughter 
of James Moore, the captive. Mr. Tiffany was bom June 6th, 1800, 
and died Feb. 12th, 1876. He was an active and influential citizen 
and left 9. splendid estate to his only child, Mrs. Alex St. Clair, 



516 



History of Tazewell County 



there in 1771 or 1772; and all of them^ except Joslin and Dgleton, 
subsequently became conspicuous figures in the history of Tazewell. 
Bluestone Valley lies along the north side of East River Moun- 
tain. Beginning at the divide which separates the waters of the 
Clinch from the waters of the Bluestone, it extends in an easterly 
direction to a point southeast of Graham, Through the entire length 
of the valley ran the old Cumberland Gap and Fincastle Turnpike. 
A splendid modern highwaj^ now occupies the location of the old 
turnpike ; and it is, perhaps, the most traveled road in the county. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL CHARACTER 
OF ITS PEOPLE. 

A very important period in the history of its people was reached 
when the county of Tazewell was created and organized. The 
political, social, and industrial character of the people who then 
occupied the territory of the new county had to be developed and 
fasiiioned, Tazewell County had been made an integral part of 
the government of the Commonwealth of Virginia; and thereby 
constituted a unit of the great Federal Government, that ele\'en 
years previously had been brought into existence by the adoption 
of the Constitution and called the United States of America. 
George Washington had been elected and inaugurated as President 
of the Nation, in 1779, and had been elected for and served a second 
term. 

Immediately following the first inauguration of President Wash- 
ington it became necessary for those who had framed the Consti- 
tution to interpret its true intended import and spirit ; and apply 
it to the conduct of the splendid Republic which the fathers had 
conceived from the Virginia Bill of Rights and the Declaration of 
Independence. 

In May, 1781, Mr. Jefferson was appointed by Congress min- 
ister plenipotentiary to Europe to assist John Adams and Benjamin 
Franklin in negotiating treaties of commerce with the several 
European Powers; and in March, 1785, he was appointed minister 
to France to succeed Dr. Franklin. He continued as the represen- 
tative of the United States at the French Court until 1789, when, 
at his request, he was granted a leave of absence to bring his daugh- 
ters, who had been with him in Paris, back to their home at Monti- 
cello. Upon his arrival at Norfolk, Virginia, he received a letter 
from President Washington, urgently requesting him to enter his 
Cabinet as Secretary of State. At first Mr. Jefferson was reluc- 
tant to accept the position, as he wished to return to France and 
witness the struggle that country was making to overthrow the 
monarchy and establish a republican form of government. This 
he hoped to see done upon the principles set forth in the Virginia 
Bill of Rights ; and a system of government established similar to 

[517 1 



518 History of Tazewell County 

that embodied in the Constitution of the United States. But, at 
the urgent solicitation of John Adams, then Vice President, James 
Madison, and other distinguished patriots and statesmen, he ac- 
cepted the appointment and became the first Secretary of State 
under the Constitution. 

On the 8th of March, 1790, Mr. Jefferson started from Rich- 
mond for New York, then the seat of government, to enter upon 
the important duties of his office. He traveled by way of Phila- 
delphia to have an interview with Dr. Franklin, who was then lan- 
guishing from what proved to be his last illness. Franklin and 
Jefferson were equally earnest advocates of a popular democratic 
form of government; and were completely in accord in their inter- 
pretation uf the spirit and letter of the Federal Constitution. After 
his interview with Franklin he journeyed on to New York, arriving 
there on the 21st of the month. He found that much important 
business had already accumulated in his Department of the Govern- 
ment; and was astounded by discovering that a strong desire was 
being expressed for a monarchical form of government by the 
wealthy and aristocratic families of New York. This sentiment 
was not confined to the aristocrats of New York, but was being 
espoused by such distinguished political leaders as Alexander Hamil- 
ton, Fisher Ames, Governeur Morris, and others. Some years after- 
wards, Mr. Jefferson said: 

"Here, certainly, I found a state of things, which, of all I had 
ever contemplated, I least expected. I had left France in the first 
year of her revolution, in the fervor of natural rights, and zeal 
for reformation. My conscientious devotion to these rights could 
not be heightened, but it had been aroused and excited by daily 
exercise. The President received me cordially, and my colleagues 
and the circle of principal citizens, apparently with welcome. The 
courtesies of dinner parties given me, as a stranger newly arrived 
among them, placed me at once in their familiar society. But I 
cannot describe the wonder and mortification with which the table 
conversations filled me. Politics were the chief topic, and a pref- 
erence of kingly over republican government, was evidently the 
favorite sentiment. An apostate I could not be, nor yet a hypo- 
crite; and I found myself, for the most part, the only advocate on 
the republican side of the question, unless among the guests there 



and Southwest Virginia 519 

chanced to be some member of that party from the legislative 
Houses." 

From these conditions two schools of political and social thought 
sprang immediately into existence, and were the origin of two well 
defined political parties that were widely separated on the funda- 
mental principles of civil government. One of these schools, in the 
main, taught the Jeffersonian creed of popular government, while 
the other inculcated the Hamiltonian theories of a strong central- 
ized government, to be upheld and conducted by a wealthy and 
high-bom class of citizens. The application of Hamilton's theories 
would have excluded Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln from 
the Presidency. Jefferson held rigidly to the doctrine, afterwards 
enunciated by Lincoln, that "this is a government of the people, 
by the people, and for the people." Hamilton contended for the 
doctrine, that this should be "a government of the people, by a 
part of the people," as William Howard Taft declared it to be in 
his abortive campaign for re-election to the Presidency in 1912. 

It was hardly possible for the Tazewell pioneers, then living, 
or their sons, to do otherwise than join the great Jeffersonian polit- 
ical legion when the county entered the State and National govern- 
ments as a political unit. The spirit which led them, or their 
ancestors, to migrate from monarchical Europe in quest of political 
and religious freedom, and to leave the eastern colonies, where the 
colonial governments were dominated by extreme royalists, had 
grown in intensity after they came into the wilderness to make their 
homes. His cabin was for the pioneer settler a castle of freedom; 
and none of the first generation of men born in Tazewell had ever 
breathed the atmosphere of privilege; but each and every one of 
these had inhaled the precious ozone of the young democracy that 
Thomas Jefferson sought to place in charge of the new Republic. 

Thus it will be seen that the political thought and characteristics 
of the people of Tazewell were in perfect harmony with the Popular 
Government and State Sovereignty theories of Thomas Jefferson. 
And at the very first opportunity given them as citizens of a dis- 
tinct county, they so recorded their convictions. This was at the 
Presidential election in 1804, when Mr. Jefferson was elected Presi- 
dent for a second term. The number of votes cast in the county at 



520 History of Tazewell County 

that election was very small, but the entire vote was given for the 
electors that were the known supporters of Thomas Jefferson. 

From that time until the present day the people of Tazewell 
have cherished and stood firmly for popular republican government. 
At the Presidential election in 1828, when Andrew Jackson had 
become the leader and was the candidate of the Jeffersonian Democ- 
racy, a very large vote was polled, and the "Jackson Ticket For 
Electors" received every vote polled in the county, save three, that 
were cast for the electors of the Whig party. The Whigs had 
John Quincy Adams as their candidate for President, and Richard 
Rush was their candidate for Vice President. I have two of the 
Jackson Tickets in my possession that were used at the election in 
Tazewell County. One of these was voted by my father, his name 
being written on the back of the ballot, as required by law in that 
day. I have also one of the Adams Tickets which was used by 
James Mahood, as his name is written on its back. Politicians in 
1828 were as apt as they are today in making false and alarmist 
appeals to the voters. The ballot used by James Mahood was taken 
from the Lynchburg Virginian, a Whig paper, and at its head is 
printed the following stirring appeal: 

"This Day Fortnight, the great and eventful contest will be 
decided. All we need say to our friends, is. Go To The Polls on 
that day, and record your votes for John Q. Adams, Richard Rush, 
and Civil Liberty, against Andretv Jackson and Military Rule, 
John C. Calhoun, and Distinion." 

The demagogic appeal of the Whigs was repudiated by the 
freemen of Tazewell, and generally by the voters of the mountain 
region west of New River. Andrew Jackson was elected President 
in 1828, and was elected for a second term four years later. He 
became the political hero of the mountaineers ; and it was told, that 
for some years after his death the older men would frequently vote 
for Andrew Jackson at Presidential elections. Jackson was a 
consistent and persistent disciple of Thomas Jefferson. 

THE SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 

In their social thought and relations the people of Tazewell 
were, comparatively, as democratic as they were in their political 
characteristics. The adoption and cultivation by the pioneers of a 



and Southwest Virginia 521 

community feeling and spirit created a social system that has not 
entirely disappeared from the county. The first settlers had come 
here to get away, if possible, from the distasteful political and 
social customs of Europe, that were the spawn of monarchy and 
aristocracy. In 1774, Governor Dunmore declared, in a report to 
Lord Dartmouth, that it was the purpose of the frontier settlers 
"to form a Set of Democratical Governments of their own, upon 
the backs of the old Colonies ; a scheme which, for obvious reasons, 
I apprehend cannot be allowed to be carried into execution." 

Clearly it was the purpose of our pioneer ancestors to exclude 
from the society they were founding in the wilderness, the old 
distinctions of caste and privileged classes ; and to establish among 
themselves a condition of wholesome social equality, devoid of 
unrighteous individualism. They sought to form a community where 
popular freedom could be exercised on the widest basis consistent 
with the general good; where each man could say what he thought, 
unchecked by religious creeds, and untrammeled by despotical gov- 
ernment. That they had any desire to fashion a community that 
would be featured with unlicensed freedom or dominated by ruf- 
fianism, is negatived by the excellent social and domestic order that 
was maintained in the Upper Clinch settlements before they were 
incorporated with and conducted by the civil government of Vir- 
ginia. 

In a social way all the first settlers stood upon the same plane. 
They had come here seeking homes and freedom, and they, each, had 
precisely the same occupation, that of home-makers. Their duties 
as members of the communit}'^ were identical — to build cabins for 
their families, clear fields from the forests, and from the fertile 
soil win an abundant subsistence for their dependents. They all, 
alike, had another important common duty to perform, that was to 
help defend the settlements against the savage enemy. If idlers 
or criminals tried to fasten themselves upon the community, they 
were forced to move on into the remote wilderness, or to return to 
the place from whence they came. 

There were no ariscrats among the pioneer settlers ; but they 
were not illiterate boors, as some historians would have us believe. 
They were intelligent and fairly well educated farmers and artisans, 
and in many instances combined both occupations. The common 
purposes, interests and duties of the pioneers invoked amongst them 



522 History of Tazewell County 

a state of social equality as nearly perfect as it can be found in 
organized human society. Thus were they and their sons prepared 
to receive, accept, assimilate, and uphold the great social truths 
written into the Virginia Bill of Rights by the fathers: "That 
all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain 
inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, 
they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; 
namely the enjoyment of life and liberty^ with the means of acquir- 
ing and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness 
and safety." 

The men of Tazewell came from the people, and, when they 
became a factor in the politics of the country, they heartily embraced 
the popular cause. 

THE INDUSTRIAL CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 

The three physical agents — climate, soil, and the aspects of 
nature — have been generally accepted as the most potential factors 
in originating and shaping the industrial character of a nation, or 
the communities of which it is composed. These agents necessarily 
fixed for the Tazewell pioneers the vocations they and their children 
should adopt and follow. They had been attracted to this region 
by its rich lands, splendid forests, numerous fountains and streams, 
abundance of game, and magnificent scenery. But the supreme 
attraction was the fertility of the soil, which naturally produced 
the most nutritious herbage for both wild and domestic animals; 
and where heavy yields of cereals could be produced when the 
forests were cleared away and fields prepared for cultivation. 
Hence, when each settler moved in, he brought along with his family 
the necessary implements for making clearings and cultivating the 
soil — axes, hilling and grubbing hoes, colter plows, and so forth. 
They came here to be farmers and graziers; and from the time of 
their arrival all their energy was directed to agricultural pursuits. 

It is a singular coincidence that the men of Tazewell not only 
accepted his political and social doctrines, but adopted the vocation 
that Thomas Jefferson, the father of American democracy, most 
liighly esteemed. When he was minister plenipotentiary to Europe, 
with authority to negotiate commercial treaties with the govern- 
ments of that continent, there was a very grave question connected 
with his work. It was, whether, in making commercial treaties 



and Southwest Virginia 523 

with foreign countries, the maritime and manufacturing interests 
of the United States should have first consideration. In a private 
letter, written from Paris on the 23rd of August, 1785, to John 
Jay, then Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the Confederated States, 
Mr. Jefferson gave expression to some very interesting convictions 
on the disputed question. He said: 

"Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They 
are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and 
they are tied to their country, and wedded to its liberty and inter- 
ests, by the most lasting bonds. As long, therefore, as they can 
find employment in this line, I would not convert them into mariners, 
artisans, or anything else. But our citizens will find employment 
in this line, till their numbers, and of course their productions, 
become too great for the demand, both internal and foreign. This 
is not the case as yet, and probably will not be for a considerable 
time. As soon as it is, the surplus of hands must be turned to some- 
thing else. I should then, perhaps, wish to turn them to the sea 
in preference to manufactures, because, comparing the characters 
of the two classes, I find the former the most valuable citizens. I 
consider the class of artificers as the panders of vice, and the instru- 
ments by which the liberties of a country are generally overturned." 

Mr. Jefferson then tells Mr. Jay, that the people of the United 
States, at least in those States that had deep water transportation 
and bordered on the sea, "are decided in the opinion, that it is 
necessary for us to take a share in the occupation of the ocean." 
He conceded that this had to be done, and then prophetically 
announced : 

"But what will be the consequence? Frequent wars without 
a doubt. Their property will be violated on the sea, and in foreign 
ports, their persons will be insulted, imprisoned, etc., for pretended 
debts, contracts, crimes, contraband, etc., etc. These insults must 
be resented, even if we had no feelings, yet to prevent their eternal 
repetition; or, in other words, our commerce on the ocean and in 
other countries must be paid for by frequent war." 

The resolve of the people of the Eastern States to make this 
a maritime and manufacturing nation, did provoke war; but not 
"frequent war," as Mr. Jefferson feared and anticipated it would. 



524 History of Tazewell County 

Our war with England in 1812 was occasioned by her gi-oss violation 
of our commerce on the seas, and the insults and outrages inflicted 
upon our seamen. But we gave Great Britain a sound drubbing in 
that war, and no nation has since, until the recent horrible world- 
wide war, dared to interfere sufficiently with our rights upon the 
seas to drag us into a conflict. 

We have a right to presume that the pioneers, in making choice 
of a life vocation, were animated by the same spirit that induced 
the Sage of Monticello to so dignify agricultural labor, by declaring 
that "Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens." 
The experience of our country, accumulated during the past hun- 
dred and twenty-five years, has confirmed the absolute verity of 
Mr. Jefferson's opinions. But, if the pioneers had not become 
farmers and graziers from choice, they would have been compelled 
to follow these pursuits from necessity. They had established their 
homes in a region so isolated and remote from the older settlements, 
that they would have found it impossible to furnish their families 
with ample supplies of food, except by getting it, with their own 
labor, from the rich lands on which they had settled. 

The Clinch Valley settlements were then the most inaccessible 
west of New River. All aiDproaches from both the New River and 
the Holston Valley were rough and dangerous. There were no 
roads that could be traveled with vehicles of any kind; and the 
bridle paths were steep and perilous. Over high mountains and 
along narow paths everything taken to and brought from the distant 
settlements had to be transported on pack-horses. Even as late as 
1799, when certain citizens of Wythe and Russell petitioned the 
General Assembly for the erection of a new county (Tazewell), 
the first reason urged in the petition, was, that: "Our Roads also 
are Intollerably bad; Many of Your Petitioners have to cross four 
Large Mountains, the least of which chain, would in the Interior 
parts of the State, be considered almost Impassible, And, between 
each of these Mountains there are Rapid Water Courses, which in 
common with all the streams Among Mountains are Quickly made 
Impassible by Rains, and Renders the passage Dangerous, as well 
as Fatigueing & Expensive." The jDctitioners had to endure these 
severe hardships and dangers when traveling to and from their 
respective court houses, where they said they were compelled to go 
to transact their "Ordinary Business, besides Regimental Musters, 



and Southwest Virginia 525 

Elections &c, in which cases the Laws of the State Require our 
attendance." 

Thirty years had passed since the first settlers came to the 
Clinch Valley, and with the population sufficiently increased to 
warrant the erection for them of a new county, the region still 
remained isolated and difficult of access. The existing conditions 
fixed inexorably the industrial status of the people of Tazewell. 
They were decreed, from choice and by their physical surroundings, 
to make agriculture their chief business ; farmers and graziers they 
became, and their descendants and successors have wisely continued 
to pursue the same honorable and lucrative calling. 

After the organization of the countj', the attention of the land- 
holders was primarily directed to the breeding and raising of live- 
stock for market — cattle, horses, sheep, and swine. There were 
several cogent reasons for the adoption of this plan. One was, that, 
with the abundance of bluegrass that sprang up in the clearings, 
and the grass and pea vine that grew abundantly in the forests, it 
required much less labor to raise domestic animals than to produce 
grain. But the principal reason for making grazing their occupa- 
tion was that they had no available markets for their surplus grain, 
on account of a lack of transportation facilities. On the other hand, 
they could feed their surplus grain to their cattle and horses in the 
winter season, and after grazing them in the summer, drive them to 
eastern markets and get good prices for them. From the very 
beginning the live-stock raised and grazed in Tazewell has been 
esteemed as of the best produced on the continent. 



Situated four hundred miles from the ocean, and one hundred 
miles from the nearest navigable stream, the Ohio River, nature 
decreed that Tazewell County shoul.i not be what is known as a 
manufacturing community. But rem(ii:eness from marts, and inade- 
quate means of transportation, made it imperative that the first 
settlers should be manufacturers for home consumption. They had 
to make fabrics for their clothing, furniture and furnishings for 
their homes, farm implements, etc. These articles were really 
home manufactures, as they were m ide in the homes and shops of 
the settlers. Gradually men in each community found it profitable 
to engage chiefly in mechanical pi: -.suits, and to establish shops 



526 History of Tazewell County 

for custom work. But weaving, the most important industry, was 
still confined to the homes, and was done by the wives and daughters 
of each household. The manufacturing habits of the first settlers 
were ahered to by their descendants for several generations. Writ- 
ing in 1852, under the heading, "Home Manufactures," Dr. Bickley 
said: 

"Linsey, jeans, tow-linen, flax-thread, hose, and carpets, are the 
principal home manufactures of this county: the value of which, 
according to the census report, is twenty-five thousand four hun- 
dred dollars. I have no data from which to estimate the amount of 
either, but am satisfied that jeans and linsey, stand first in value- 
ation. Tow-linen, which sells for about ten cents per yard, does 
not cost the Tazewell manufacturer far short of thirty cents. A 
like statement might be made about the whole list. 

"These articles are manufactured at the houses of the farmers, 
their plantations supplying all the materials, except cotton, which 
is imported from North Carolina, spun and put up in bales. Wool 
is carded by machines in the county, and spun by hand. The weav- 
ing is done on the common hand-loom. House furniture, of nearly 
all kinds, is manufactured in the county. Saddles, boots, shoes, 
iron-work, etc., is also done here. Lumber of the finest quality, 
may here be had, for the trouble of cutting it." 

Bickley thought it was a serious mistake for the farmers to 
have their wives and daughters give so much of their time to 
domestic affairs, especially to spinning, weaving, and manufacturing 
fabrics for clothing and other family uses. He claimed that this 
was done at the expense of the education of the youth of the 
county. If that result did follow, of course it was very unfor- 
tunate. But, if the manufacturing at home of necessary clothing 
and other articles for one's family is an economic error, it is also 
a mistake for a nation to manufacture such things for its own 
people, if they can be purchased from foreigners cheaper than they 
can be made at home. At any rate, the people of Tazewell manu- 
factured what they could at home for a period of more than fifty 
years after the county was erected, and that they were happy and 
prosperous is beyond dispute. 

There were many useful things woven by the pioneer mothers 
and daughters that Dr. Bickley failed to enumerate. Table linen. 



and Southwest Virginia 



527 



napery, smooth and bleached as white as snow, made from flax 
grown on the farms — broken, scotched, and hackled by the men, 
boys and girls, and spun into thread as fine as hair — was a part of 
the fruits that came from the looms of our foremothers. And 
counterpaines or coverlets, made from cotton or finest wool, and 
blankets fleecy white, were woven on these same looms. Some of 
the counterpaines were of as exquisite design and as carefully 
woven as any similar piece that ever came from an Oriental loom. 




Last large walnut log exported from Tazewell County. 



r 



The walnut log shown above was cut and exported from Taze- 
well about fifteen years ago. Its size can be estimated from the 
horse power used to pull it over well graded roads to the railway 
station. This log, however, was almost a sapling as compared 
with the immense trees that were found in the Clinch Valley by the 
pioneers. In the early days of the county a walnut tree stood on 
the J. W. Sheffey place at Pounding Mill. It was hollow at the 
butt, and was blown down ; and its size was so immense that a 
man on horseback rode through the hollow of it. A poplar tree 
stood at the head of Thompson Valley on E. R. Thompson's land 



528 



History of Tazewell County 



that measured 36 feet in circumference. It was very tall and well 
proportioned. Some fifty years ago a poplar tree stood on Rich 
Hill near Pounding Mill. It was hollow at the butt. Tliis tree 
broke off eighteen or twenty feet above the ground, and it was more 
than 10 feet in diameter inside the hollow. Isaac and Robert Patrick 
had a contract with Capt. Jno. P. Sheffey to clear a boundary 
of land where this tree stood. They were engaged on the job about 
two years; and they reduced the height of the stump about half, 
covered it and lived in the hollow for the two years. 




Sue tiuinc ui the implements the pioneer women used for manu- 
facturing fabrics to make clothing for their families. The woman 
standing by the loom is Miss Nannie Gregory, one of the very few 
expert weavers now left in the county. She is wearing the poke 
bonnet her grandmother wore many years ago. The loom, which was 
her grandmother's, is a hundred years old, as are also the spinning 
wheels and reel seen in the picture. 

Fortunately weaving had not become a lost art in Tazewell when 
the Civil War came on. Spinning wheels and old hand-looms were 
brought into active use during that eventful period. The men from 
Tazewell who were engaged in military service for the Confederacy 
were well supplied with clothing made from webs of cloth woVen 
by their mothers, wives, and sisters at home. And the old-time 
linsey gowns did splendid service for the rosy-cheeked daughters 
of Tazewell. It was my good fortune to see some of the fair girls 
wearing these gowns, as pretty as any made from the most gorgeous 
Scotch plaids. 



and Southwest Virginia 529 

There was but little change in the industrial habits and condi- 
tions of the people of the county when the census was taken in 
1850. At that time there were in the county 10 physicians^ 8 law- 
yers, 36 teachers, 22 merchants, 9 clerks, 2 printers, 3 tavern 
keepers, and one barber, a total of 91 persons engaged in non-pro- 
ductive callings. There were 163 persons employed in mechanical 
and manufacturing pursuits, as follows: 10 saddlers, 1 painter, 2 
hatters, 10 shoemakers, 7 brick masons, 41 carpenters, 9 millers, 
11 wagon makers, 21 blacksmiths, 16 tanners, 18 cabinet makers, 
2 gunsmiths, 8 tailors, 2 coopers, 1 tinner, and 1 watchmaker. 
According to the census there were 1,922 farmers in the county in 
1850, and Tazewell County was still a pronounced agricultural 
community. 



T.H.— 34 



530 History of Tazewell County 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ROADS OF TAZEWELL COUNTY GROWTH IN POPULATION 

. AND WEALTH, ETC. 

From the very outset one of the most serious drawbacks to the 
progress and development of Tazewell was the lack of good roads. 
Even when the county was formed there were very few, if any, 
roads in the settlements over wliich wagons and other vehicles could 
pass ; and there was nothing but bridle paths that crossed the moun- 
tains. If one will examine the records of the county court, it will be 
seen that the roads within the county limits for some years after 
the county was organized were a very vexing question. One of the 
most important reasons assigned b)'^ the petitioners for the creation 
of Tazewell County, was: "Our Roads also are Intolerably bad." 

The first highway that was built across Clinch Mountain was the 
road through what was then called Thompson's Gap, and where a 
bridle path had previously traversed the mountain. This road 
began at the northern base of Clinch Mountain, at or near the house 
of William Thompson, in Thompson Valley. It crossed that moun- 
tain to Poor Valley, entering the valley at the present hamlet of 
Tannersville. The grades were very steep and the road-bed was 
narrow and exceedingly rough. This was for many years the only 
route persons could use when going from Tazewell to, or coming 
from, the Salt Works, or other points in the Holston Valley. Before 
writing his history of Virginia, Henry Howe visited Tazewell 
County. When he left the county he made his exit by the road 
through Thompson's Gap. He was so impressed with the grand 
scenery that he made a picture which showed a section of the road, 
and which was published in his history. Here is what Howe said 
about the scenery and road: 

"It was late in a November evening that we ascended the lofty 
Clinch Mountain, after leaving Tazewell C. H. for Abingdon, and 
put up for the night at a miserable hut on its summit. The next 
morning the sun shone bright and clear as we buckled on our knap- 
sack and resumed our journey through a light snow which covered 
the mountain-road that winds with great steepness down the 



and Southwest Virginia 531 

declivity. In about half a mile was presented a scene of which none 
but a painting in the highest style of art can convey an adequate 
impression. The whole of a vast landscape was filled with a sea 
of mountains beyond mountains, in an apparently interminable con- 
tinuity. Near, were huge mountains, dark and frowning, in the 
desolation of winter. Beyond, they assumed a deep blue color, and 
then grew fainter and fainter, until far away in the horizon — fifty 
or sixty miles — their jagged outlines were softened by distance, and 
sky and mountain met and mingled in the same light cerulean hue. 
Not a clearing was to be seen — not even a solitary smoke from some 
cabin curled up the intervening valleys to indicate the presence of 
man. It was — 

"A wild and lonely region, where, retired 
From little scenes of art Nature dwelt 
In awful solitude." 

When a small boy, the author, in company with his parents and 
brothers, traveled over this road frequently; and even at an early 
age was impressed with thoughts similar to those expressed by 
Howe. It took nearly half a day to cross the mountain with a 
carriage or other vehicle. We often rested at or near the little 
cabin Howe mentions ; and ate our lunch at the spring, whose waters 
were highly flavored with the laurel and ivy bushes that grew 
thickly on the mountain top. 

' After leaving Tazewell C. H., before reaching Clinch Mountain, 
Henry Howe had to pass through Plum Creek Gap, where the road 
was then rougher and more dangerous than the one which crossed 
Clinch Mountain. It has been a current tradition, that, in the 
thirties of the last century, Judge Benjamin Estill, then Judge of 
the Superior Court of Tazewell County, in his general charge to the 
grand jury at a term of his court, made special mention of the 
wretched condition of the Plum Creek Gap road. He had been 
traveling this road from Abingdon to Jeffersonville to hold his 
courts, and knew what a frightful pretense it was for a highway. 
The judge directed the grand- jury to indict the overseer of the road 
for neglect of duty, but took occasion to say to the jury: "You have 
put a road where God Almighty never intended one to be placed." 
What would Judge Estill say now, if he could return and view the 



532 



History of Tazewell County 



splendid highway that passes through the Gap, over which auto- 
mobiles are sped at a rate of fifteen or twenty miles an hour? 

A road similar to the one that crossed Clinch Mountain at 
Thompson's Gap was built across Rich Mountain and through the 
Gap into Burke's Garden. After passing through the Garden, it 
connected with a similar road that crossed Garden and Brushy 
mountains into Wythe County, and from thence crossed Walker's 
Mountain, and on to Wvtheville. 




Plum Creek Gap, showing a section of the modem highway built 
on the route where Judge Estill said God never intended a road to be 
placed. 



All the roads in the valleys were, comparatively, as wretchedly 
bad as thos that crossed the mountains, and most of them were even 
worse, especially in the winter season. 

The first turnpike road that was built in, or through, the county 
was the Cumberland Gap and Fincastle Turnpike. It was built by 
the State ; and, starting at Cumberland Gap, passed through the 
counties of Lee, Scott, and Russell, and entered Tazewell County 
west of Midway. Passing Midway and Liberty Hill, it ran on to 
Tazewell Court House. From the Court House it ran bv wav of 



and Southwest Virginia 



533 



the north fork of Clinch River and through the Bluestone Valley 
to the head of East River; and thence down that stream to New 
River. From that point the turnpike continued up the river, passed 
through the Narrows, on by Pearisburg, and again reached New 
River at Ripplemead. There persons traveling the road were 
ferried across the river, at the same place the pioneers crossed the 
stream when they came to the Clinch. On the east side of New 
River the Cumberland Gap and Fincastle Turnpike began again. 




One of the most beautiful old homes in Tazewell County. It 
was built for Colonel Harvey George in 1832; and is on the old 
Fincastle and Cumberland Gap Turnpike, about six miles west of the 
court house. In recent years it was the home of the late John Bundy, 
and is now owned and occupied by one of his sons, Wm. Rees Bundy. 

Thence it passed Newport in Giles County, ran up Sinking Creek 
into the present Craig County to Newcastle ; and thence to Fin- 
castle. The road was built in the thirties of the last century. 

The Tazewell C. H. and Fancy Gap Turnpike, which ran from 
Jeffersonville to Wytheville ; and the Kentucky and Tazewell C. H. 
Turnpike, which ran from Jeffersonville to Grundy, the present 
county seat of Buchanan County, were chartered by the Legisla- 
ture in 1848, and were constructed just prior to 1852. These two 
turnpikes are shown on a map in Bickley's History of Tazewell 



k 



534 



History of Tazewell County 



County, published in 1852; and the Cumberland Gap and Fincastle 
Turnpike also appears on the said map. 

From the time the Cumberland Gap and Fincastle Turnpike was 
constructed, until about 1850 or 1851, that road was the principal 
thoroughfare used by the people of Tazewell County for conveying 
their products to the eastern markets. And all the merchandise 
and other articles purchased in the eastern markets for consump- 
tion in Tazewell were brought here in wagons over this same road. 
The cattle and horses that were sold from the county were driven 
east by this route. Sometimes droves of cattle numbering a thous- 




This scene is located on what is called "Hubble Hill"; and the 
modem road is built on the location of the old Tazewell C. H. and 
Kentucky Turnpike. Looking south Rich Mountain is seen in the 
distance. All of the mountain visible in the picture is denuded of 
the heavy original forest, and the sides and top of the mountain are 
covered wuth as fine bluegrass sod as can be found in the world. 



and, or more, head would be driven to the Valley of Virginia and 
to Northern Virginia; and tliere disposed of in bunches to fai*mers, 
who would graze and prepare them for the markets, just as the 
export cattle are now prepared by the Tazewell graziers for export- 
ing. 

After the State built the splendid macadam road, which extended 
in an unbroken line from Buchanan, in Botetourt County, to Seven 
Mile Ford, in Smyth County, travel and traffic from and to Tazewell 
was almost completely diverted from that part of the Cumberland 
Gap and Fincastle Turnpike east of Bluefield. Transportation was 
then directed across the mountains to Wytheville over the Tazewell 
C. H. and Fancy Gap Turnpike; and from Wytheville the haul was 



and Southwest Virginia 



535 



continued eastward until the advancing line of the Virginia & Ten- 
nessee Railroad was reached. The track of this road was slowly 
laid in the direction of Bristol^ and got to Wytheville in 1855. 
From the eastern part of the county all travel and traffic was then 
directed to Wytheville, until the Norfolk & Western built its line 
from Radford to Graham. 

In 1858-59 the Tazewell and Saltville Turnpike was built from 
the Cove across Clinch and Little Brushy mountains to Poor Valley; 
and from that time the travel and traffic from the west end of the 




A view of the Main Street of Tazewell, taken ten or twelve years 
ago. Since then great improvements have been made to the street 
and buildings. ^^-Ui 

county went to Saltville. The branch railroad from Glade Spring 
to Saltville had been previously built, giving to the citizens of the 
west end of Tazewell County greatly improved transportation 
facilities. 

Isolation and inaccesibility have always been regarded as two 
of the most powerful retardments to the progress and development 
of a nation, state, or community. Against these uncompromising 
foes of wealth and civilization the Tazewell pioneers and their 
descendants and successors were compelled to persistently contend 
for more than a hundred years after the first settlements were made 
here. But there are other great physical causes which influence 



536 History of Tazewell County 

and govern the creation and accumulation of wealth and the develop- 
ment of a high civilization in nations or communities. Among these 
causes are a fertile soil and an invigorating climate. Fortunately 
both of these — a rich soil and an invigorating climate — were attri- 
butes of the Clinch Valley region ; and proved ample to mitigate 
and largely overcome the disadvantages of isolation and inaccessi- 
bility from which the inhabitants of Tazewell suffered before rail- 
roads came and gave them access to the outside world. 

INCREASE IN POPULATION AND WEALTH. 

Although the people of Tazewell were greatly hampered by 
their isolation, there was a steady and healthy increase in the popu- 
lation and wealth of the county from its organization to the begin- 
ning of the Civil War. The population was 2,127 when the county 
was organized in 1800. The census taken by the United States 
each succeeding ten years placed the population of the county as 
follows: In 1810, 3,007; 1820, 3,916; 1830, 5.749; 1840, 6,290; 
1850, 9,942; 1860, 9,920. It will be seen that there was a decrease 
of 22 in the population of the county during the ten years that 
intervened between 1850 and 1860. This was due to the formation 
of McDowell and Buchanan counties, all of the territory which 
composed McDowell County and most of that embraced in Buchanan 
being taken from Tazewell County. McDowell had a population of 
1,535 in 1860, and Buchanan had 2,793. a combined population of 
4,328. If these two counties had not been created previous to the 
census of 1860, Tazewell's population would have been about 13,000. 
Tlie increase in the wealth of the county during the first fifty 
years of its existence was normal and satisfactory. Bickley pub- 
lished in his history in 1852 the following table showing the wealth 
of the county : 

"Table Showing The Wealth of The County. 

"Value of lands $3,189,080.00 

" farming utensils 36,390.00 

" live stock 517,330.00 

agricultural productions 226,579.00 

mechanical productions 7,000.00 

" slave property 530.000.00 

" stock in trade 85,000.00 



Total wealth of the county $4,591,379.00" 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 



537 



Bickley published another table in his history which showed 
that there were 58,1 10 acres of improved, 220,630 acres unimproved, 
and 1,641,360 acres of land unentered or in large surveys within the 
bounds of the county in 1852. These figures he must have obtained 
from the assessors books for that year ; and it is evident that most 
of the unentered land and the large surveys were in the bounds of 
the present McDowell and Buchanan counties. The improved lands 
were valued in Bickley's table at $696,320 an average of about 
$10 per acre. This must have been the assessed value, as many 




A bunch of Dorset lambs, over one hundred in number, that were 
bred and grazed by the late Henry S. Bowen. They had been weighed 
at the scales of the Packing House at North Tazewell, and averaged 
102 lbs. The lambs at that time brought about five or six dollars each. 
In 1919 they would have sold for fifteen dollars per head. 

thousand acres of the improved lands had a much larger actual or 
sales value at that time, for Bickley said of the lands in the vicinity 
of the county seat : 

"The lands are well improved; and will compare favorably with 
any in the county. There are many fine farms near the town, among 
which may be mentioned those of Thos. Peery, Esq., John Wynn, 
Esq., Col. John B. George, Kiah Harman, Henry, Elias, G. W., and 
William Harman, Joseph, and Thomas G. Harrisson, A. A. Spotts, 
Harvey G. Peery, Esq., and Dr. H. F. Peery. 50,000 acres of these 



538 History of Tazewell County 

lands, are worth from forty to fifty dollars an acre, and little 
could be purchased for even that sum." 

There were other localities in the county where the lands were 
considered as valuable, even more valuable than those about Jeifer- 
sonville. The lands in Burke's Garden were nearer the markets 
and as fertile as any in the county; and in writing about the Cove, 
including the lands of Colonel Henry and General Rees T. Bowen, 
Bickley said: "I hesitate not to call this the garden-spot of Taze- 
well county." The lands that Bickley wrote about in 1852 now have 
an average sales value of $200 per acre, or more. Tazewell's first 
historian compiled from the census of 1850 a table showing the 
kind, number and value of the live stock in the county. It is as 
follows : 

Specified kinds. Number. Value. 

Horses 5,150 $309,000.00 

Mules and asses 127 8,890.00 

Milch cows 4,576 64,840.00 

Working oxens 117 2,340.00 

Other cattle 10,260 102,600.00 

Sheep 19,530 19,530.00 

Swine 20,130 20,130.00 



Total Value of live stock $517,330.00 

In the above table, compiled by Dr. Bickley, it will be seen that 
cows were valued at $11 per head. The sheep and hogs were, 
each, valued at $1 per head. These were certainly very low valua- 
tions, as wool was then worth thirt}' cents, and bacon not less than 
ten cents a pound, and the valuations must have been based on 
assessed and not on the sales value of the animals. 

But if the values given by Bickley, of lands and live stock, be 
accepted as fair and adequate, still it is evident that Tazewell 
County had, during the first fifty years of its existence, developed 
into a community of considerable wealth. This conclusion is strongly 
sustained by the fact that the economic condition of the county had 
become so excellent that two banks were established in Jefferson- 
ville as early as 1852. One of these was a branch bank of the 
Northwestern Bank of Virginia, the mother bank being located at 
Wheeling, then in Virginia, but now in West Virginia. It was a 



and Southwest Virginia 



539 



bank of issue^ deposit, and discount. In 1852 its officers were: 
President, John W. Johnston; Cashier, Isaac M. Benham; Clerk, 
Rees B. Gillispie. 

The Directors were as follows: John C. McDonald, John B. 
George, Kiah Harman, Geo. W. G. Browne, S. F. Watts, Samuel L. 
Graham, and Isaac E. Chapman. This bank had a capital of 
$100,000, and Friday of each week was discount day. It was a 
flourishing institution and continued to do business until all the 
State banks passed out of existence during the Civil War. 




John Warfield Johnston was bom near Abingdon, Virginia, Sep- 
tember 19th, 1818. His mother was a sister of Gen. Rees T. Bowen. 
He received his academic education at Abingdon Academy, and South 
Carolina College, Columbia, S. C; studied law at the University of 
Virginia; and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He located at Jeffer- 
sonville, and was Commonwealth's Attorney for Tazewell County in 
1844-1846. He represented the county and district in the State Senate 
at the sessions of 1844-45 and 1846-47. In 1866 he was made judge of 
this judicial circuit and served as such until 1870. He was elected to 
the United States Senate from Virginia, and served in that body from 
October 26th, 1869, to March 3rd, 1883. Judge Johnston died in Rich- 
mond, February 27th, 1889. 

The other bank was the Jeffersonville Savings Bank. Its officers 
were: Cashier or Treasurer, Addison A. Spotts ; Secretary, William 
O. Yost. The Directory was constituted as follows: Thomas Peery, 
Rees T. Bowen, A. A. Spotts, Granville Jones, William Cox, Wil- 
liam O. Yost, John C. Hopkins. Capital, by limitation, $100,000. 
Discount day, Saturday. This bank passed out of existence before 
the Civil War began. 



540 History of Tazewell County 

THE RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 

The religious character of the inhabitants of the county was 
coexistent and developed along with the social, political, and relig- 
ious thought of the people. It was my intention to give an accurate 
and detailed account of the introduction and growth of the various 
religious denominations that now have church organizations in 
the county. For the accomplishment of this purpose the ministers 
and leading lay members of the several denominations were 
requested to suj)ply necessary data ; but the world war so completely 
engrossed every one's attention that they failed to su^Dply the author 
with any information in time. Dr. Bickley in his history had 
a brief chapter on the Church History of Tazewell, which gives 
some information about the various denominations in the county in 
the year 1852. It is as follows: 

"No portion of my labors, if properly investigated, would be 
more interesting than this: yet the paucity of material afforded me, 
makes it quite difficult to give anything like a correct and full 
church history of this section. The principal denominations in the 
county are Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Roman Cath- 
olic ; each of whom will be noticed. 

"The first sermon preached in the county was in 1794, by Rev. 
Mr. Cobbler, apjjointed to the New River circuit, by the Baltimore 
conference. This sermon may be regarded as the budding of Metho- 
dism in Tazewell county. The seeds sown by this good man fell 
upon a genial soil, and he had the satisfaction of seeing Jeremiah 
Witten and Mrs. Sarah Witten, William Witten and his lady, John 
and Sarah Peery, Elizabeth Greenup, Samuel Forguson, Isabella 
ForgTison, and two colored persons, flock around the Christian 
standard, determined that Christ should not be forgotten, even in 
the mountain-gorges of the wild 'backwoods.' 

"Thomas Peery gave them a piece of land, and in 1797 they 
built a meetinghouse about one mile west of Jeffersonville. 

"Between 1794-7, meetings were generally held at the house of 
Samuel Forguson, near the present seat of justice. Before 1794, 
prayer-meeting was the only form of worship practiced: this seems 
to have been coexistent with the earliest settlement. The march of 
Methodism has been steadily onward ; they have, at present, seven 
churclies in regular fellowship. 



and Southwest Virginia 541 

"The first Baptists in the count}^, were the Scaggs and Hankins. 
The first sermon preached to them, was by Rev. Simon Cotterel 
from Russell county, in 1796. Their first meetings were held in 
private houses, in the Hankins' settlement. The Baptists seem 
not to have made as rapid progress as the Methodists ; as they have 
now only two regular churches in the county. I have been unable to 
learn the number of communicants, but understand that it is greater 
than would be supposed from the number of churches. 

"The first Presbyterians in the county were William Peery, 
Samuel Walker, and his wife. Prof. Doak preached the first sermon 
to them, S(/mewhere about 1798. He was soon followed by Rev. 
Mr. Crawford, from Washington county. The first church organ- 
ized was in the Cove, in 1833, which was placed in charge of Rev. 
Dugald Mclntyre, assisted by Rev. Mr. McEwin. This church, 
from some cause, was suffered to go down, and the Presbyterians 
were without a regular church till the summer of 1851, when a 
church was organized at Jeffersonville, and placed in charge of 
Rev. Mr. Naff. They have one church, and about twenty communi- 
cants. 

"At what time the first Roman Catholics appeared in the county, 
is not known. Edward Fox, a priest who resided at Wytheville, 
preached the first sermon to them in a union church at Jeffersonville 
in 1842. He continued to preach, at intervals, till the close of the 
controversy between him. and President Collins of Emory and 
Henry College. Having been beaten from every position, he quit 
Wytheville, and consequently the Tazewell Catholics were left with- 
out a priest. Bishop Whelan coming to this section of the state, 
took occasion to visit his flock in Tazewell ; the Methodists opened 
their pulpit for him, and in acknowledgment of their kindness, one 
of his first sentences was not only to insult them, but the house of 
God. He remarked, he "felt embarassed because he was preaching 
in an unconsecrated house." President Collins, who had firmly 
opposed the spread of this doctrine in South-western Virginia, being 
in the neighborliood, heard of the occurrence and replied to him 
in a few days. Notwithstanding this, Catholicism began to spread, 
and jDreparations were made for building a cathedral, which is now 
in course of construction." 

As to things spiritual, it is questionable whether there has been 
much progress made on that line in the county since the days of 



542 Hjstory of Tazewell County 

which Bickley wrote. There are more church organizations, more 
Christian denominations, more numerous and handsomer church 
buildings, and there are hundreds of professed Christians where 
there were but tens in the early days of the county. 

The people who attend worship are better dressed, and better 
educated; and thousands of youths and children are being trained 
in Sunday Schools and other church organizations that have been 
established for their benefit. The music is of a higher class, but it 
does not have the same spiritual force and feeling that attended the 
congregational singing heard at the old camp meetings and within 
the sacred walls of the old log churches at Pisgah, Concord and 
elsewhere in the county. It may be possible that the churches are 
becoming materialized at the expense of their spirituality. 

EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS. 

At that time there was one thing, that historians, generally, 
pronounce as absolutely essential to the welfare, progress, and 
civilization of a state or community, in which the people of Taze- 
well were deplorably deficient. They had accepted and made prac- 
tical use of the social, political, and economic doctrines of Thomas 
Jefferson; but had neglected to follow his precepts as the champion 
of popular education. It may be possible that the isolation of 
Tazewell rendered it difficult to get competent and sufficient teachers 
to give instruction to the large number of children then in the county. 
Whatever may have been the cause, it is a fact that from the time 
the county was organized there was a constant increase of illiteracy 
among the inhabitants, certainlj^ until 1852, and, possibly, until the 
present free school system was established by the State Constitu- 
tion of 1870. 

The entire white population of Tazewell in 1852 was 8,832; and 
there were 1,490 white persons over twenty-one years of age who 
could neither read nor write. It is likely that there were nearly as 
many illiterate whites who were under twenty-one years old as 
there were above that age. There were only 694 children attending 
the schools, and but fifteen school houses in the entire county. 
Bickley said these houses were better suited for barns than seats 
of learning. 

This alai'ming condition of illiteracy aroused the serious atten- 
tion of the Jeffersonville Historical Society, whose membership 
was composed of about a hundred of the most influential citizens 



and Southwest Virginia 



543 



of the county. The late Major Rufus Brittain was then an accom- 
plished and popular teacher^ and was earnestly engaged in educa- 
tional work in the county. At the request of the Jeffersonville 
Historical Society he prepared a paper on the educational situation, 
which was submitted to the Historical Society. It was and is a very 
valuable paper, and is as follows : 

"This cause, so important to the best interests of every well- 
regulated community, has not heretofore, in this section, received 




High School Building at lazcwell. It is \eri dilferent in appear- 
ance and appointments from the few school houses scattered over 
the county in 1852, which Bickley said were better suited for bams 
than seats of learning. 

that attention it deserves: and as a natural consequence of this 
neglect, we find the county sadly deficient in the means of training 
up the children of her citizens for stations of honor and usefulness. 
"By the returns of the last census, it is found that out of 3,317 
persons in the county over twenty-one years of age, 1,490 are 
unable to read and write. This is indeed a deplorable picture of 
the intelligence of our county, and might well cause every intelligent 
man in it to blush with shame, were it not that we find some excuse 
for this ignorance when we consider the situation of the greater 



544 



History of Tazewell County 



portion of our population, scattered as it is over a wide extent of 
country, and laboring under great disadvantages for maintaining 
schools. 

"The early settlers of this region had many difficulties to 
encounter in their efforts to procure homes for themselves and their 
children, and too frequently education appears to have been of but 
secondary importance in their estimation. Yet primary schools 
of some sort seem to have been maintained from an early date after 
its settlement, in those neighborhoods where children were suffi- 
ciently numerous to make up a school, and parents were able and 
willing to support a teacher. Instances, also, have not been wanting, 
where families not situated so as to unite conveniently with others, 
yet appreciating the advantages of a good school, have employed 
teachers to instruct their children at home, and thus afforded them 
privileges of which the children of their less enlightened neighbors 
were deprived. But of late years, since portions of the county 
have become more densely populated, and in various ways much 
improved, the cause of education here has not kept pace with that 
improvement, for even in those parts of the county best able to 
maintain schools, no permanent provision has been made for their 
continuance; and in those schools that generally have been best 
supported, long intervals between sessions so frequently occur, that 
pupils forget much of what they acquired during their attendance; 
and thus the little time spent by many in school is spent under the 
greatest disadvantage for the proper development of their intel- 
lectual faculties. Teachers, as might be supposed, under these 
circumstances, together with the fact that their compensation is 
usually very moderate, are often incompetent for the task they 
have assumed, both as respects talents and acquired qualifications. 
And though under these circumstances good teachers are sometimes 
obtained, yet most generally in such cases the office is only assumed 
as an available stepping-stone to some other and more profitable 
pursuit. Indeed, it would be unreasonable to expect persons to 
prepare themselves for the proper discharge of the onerous duties 
of a primary school teacher, unless they hoped to receive some 
adequate reward for their services. 

"Now, in consideration of the state of our schools, and the 
deplorable ignorance in which the children of our county are in 
danger of growing up, it must be evident to all who think properly 
on these subjects, that we need to adopt and carry out some effi- 



and Southwest Virginia 



545 



cient school system, by means of which, our schools shall be made 
more permanent, and sufficient inducements be held out to command 
and retain the services of competent and well qualified teachers : 
and that the means of a good primary education be brought within 
the reach of every child in the community, and for those who desire 
it and excel in the branches taught in primary schools, that oppor- 




Major Rufus Brittain, was not a native of Tazewell County, but 
came there when he was a very young man, to engage in educational 
work. In this vocation he perfoiTned eminent service, and also filled 
many positions of tmst and responsibility, among them county clerk 
and county treasurer. He served in the Confederate army as Adjutant 
of the 29th Regiment Virginia Infantry. Major Brittain was bom 
June 19th, 1822, and died April 11th, 1899. 

tunities be afforded to acquire a knowledge of the higher branches 
of a good English and scientific education. 

"These important objects, our schools, as now conducted, fail 
to accomplish, and the state school-fund for the education of indigent 
children, is in a great measure wasted, as by its regulations, it must 
depend chiefly on the schools as they now exist. 

"But the legislature of the state has provided a Free School 
System, which if adopted and carried out with proper energy and 
in an enlightened manner, these noble objects, in a great measure, 
might be attained. In order to its adoption the law requires a vote 
in its favor of two-thirds of the legal votes of the adopting district 
or county. Such a vote, we fear, could not be obtained here, until 
T.H.— 35 



546 History of Tazewell County 

some elTort is made to enlighten our citizens on the subject of 
education and schools systems; and show them the advantage that 
would accrue to themselves and their children by having the latter 
furnished with the proper means of moral and intellectual culture. 
There would also be a variety of difficulties to encounter in the 
execution of this Free School System. In some portions of the 
county the population is quite sparse, and a sufficient number of 
children could not be included within a convenient school district. 
This difficulty, however, has no remedy under our present method 
of keeping up the schools, unless families thus isolated are able to 
employ teachers to instruct their children at home. But if the 
schools were established in these thinly-settled districts, by taking 
in boundaries large enough to furnish a sufficient number of children 
to each, and some efforts made to overcome the inconvenience of 
a distant school, by conveying the children to and from school in 
such a manner as could best be provided: the mere fact of a good 
school being kept up, would be a new inducement for persons to 
emigrate to those districts, and in a few years the population would 
so much increase that a school could be made up within convenient 
bounds. This system, also, being chiefly dependent on funds raised 
for its support by taxation, might meet with great opposition from 
those who have a higher appreciation of the value of money than 
they have of intelligence; and, again, others who are possessed of 
lai'ge amounts of taxable property and few or no children to send 
to school, may think it oppressive, unless convinced that it is the 
duty of every state or community to educate, or furnish the means 
to educate, the children of its citizens. In a republican government 
like ours, the permanence of which evidently depends on the virtue 
and intelligence of its citizens, it might be deemed unnecessary to 
demonstrate tlie importance of every child being properly instructed 
and furnished with the means of acquiring that knowledge which 
will fit him to perform the duties incumbent on a citizen of a free 
and enlightened country. Yet there are too many who ai-e slow to 
perceive or acknowledge the importance of good schools, and the 
necessity of being at some trouble and expense to keep them up. 
Hence all patriotic and intelligent members of the community who 
have tasted the blessings of an education, or felt the want of one, 
should co-operate with each other, and use their influence for the 
improvement of our schools, and the increase of the virtue and 
intelligence of our citizens." 



i 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 547 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE ORIGIN AND DESCENT OF TAZEWELL COUNTY. 

Nearly two hundred years intervened between the first settle- 
ment at Jamestown and the erection of Tazewell County as a dis- 
tinct civil organization. And it was more than a hundred years 
after Captain Newport landed the colonists on the banks of James 
River before any definite information was obtained of the character 
of the extensive region that belonged to Virginia west of the Blue 
Ridge Mountains. It was nearly a century and a half after the 
settlement was made at Jamestown before Virginians began to 
explore the country beyond the Alleghany Mountains^ "on the waters 
of the Mississippi." 

A detailed synopsis which will show how Tazewell County came 
into existence as a distinct civil community, and how its present 
geographical lines were established, will, no doubt, be instructive 
and useful to many persons. The territory which now constitutes 
the county of Tazewell was within the geographical lines of the 
charters granted by James I. for the colonization of Virginia. 
Previous to the year 1716 Virginians who lived east of the Blue 
Ridge had not the slightest conception of the extent and quality 
of the uninhabited part of the province beyond the mountains. The 
Trans-Alleghany domain remained a vast unexplored, mysterious 
region, having no civil or military connection with the Colonial Gov- 
ernment at Williamsburg. Governor Spottswood's expedition to the 
Shenandoah Valley in 1716 gave the first partial knowledge to Vir- 
ginians of the character of the English territory beyond the Blue 
Ridge. 

The first attempt to bring any part of the vast trans-montane 
region under the Virginia Colonial Government was the creation of 
Spottsylvania County, by an act passed November the 2nd, 1720. 
The county was formed from the counties of Essex, King William, 
and King and Queen. Its boundaries crossed the Blue Ridge, but 
took in only a part of the Upper Shenandoah Valley. Very few 
settlers moved into that valley while a section of it was a part of 
Spottsylvania. 

On September, 20th., 1734, the General Assembly passed an act 
creating Orange County. It was formed from Spottsylvania; and 



548 History of Tazewell County 

not only took in a part of Spottsylvania east of the Blue Ridge, but 
it embraced all of Virginia west of that mountain. The act creating 
Orange provided that its Northern and Western boundaries should 
be extended to "the utmost limits of Virginia." This made the terri- 
tory of the present Tazewell County a part of Orange County. 

Four years after the formation of Orange, the Virginia Govern- 
ment ascertained that a number of people had availed themselves of 
the very liberal provisions of the act which created that county ; and 
had "settled themselves of late upon the rivers of Sherrando (Shen- 
andoah), Cohongorton, and Opeckon, and the branches thereof, on 
the northwest side of the Blueridge of Mountains." This discovery 
induced the General Assembly to pass an act on December, 15th, 
1738, for the erection of two new counties to be taken from Orange, 
and to comprise all the territory lying west and northwest of the 
Blue Ridge. These two new counties were Frederick and Augusta. 
They were named from Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of King 
George II., and father of George III., and his wife. Princess 
Augusta. The northern line of Augusta, embraced the present Rock- 
ingham County, and part of Page ; its southern boundary was the 
line between Virginia and North Carolina, and the present State 
of Tennessee ; and its western and northwestern boundaries extended 
to the utmost limits of the province of Virginia. Though Augusta 
was created by the General Assembly in 1738, it was not organized 
until 1715. The act provided that it should remain a part of 
Orange County until the Governor and Council were informed there 
was "a sufficient number of inhabitants for appointing justices of 
the peace and other officers, and erecting courts therein." As soon 
as Augusta County was organized, what is now Tazewell County, 
and all of Southwest Virginia, became a part of Augusta. 

The General Assembly passed an act on the 28th, of November, 
1769, for the division of Augusta into two counties. This act 
declared: "That from and after tlie thirty-first day of January 
next ensuing, the said county and parish of Augusta, be divided into 
two counties and parishes ;" the new county taken from Augusta 
was named Botetourt. The lines between Augusta and Botetourt 
began at the Blue Ridge and ran north fifty-five degrees west to 
the confluence of the South and North branches of James River, 
which point is in the present county of Rockbridge. From that 
place the line ran up the south branch of the river to the mouth of 



and Southwest Virginia 549 

Carr's Creek, thence up that creek to the mountain, and thence north 
fifty-five degrees west "as far as the courts of the two counties 
shall extend it." All the territory south and west of this line was 
placed in Botetourt. A Commission of Peace was issued by the 
Governor of Virginia, appointing the following named persons jus- 
tices of the peace for Botetourt County: "Andrew Lewis, Richard 
Woods, Robei-t Brackenridge, William Preston, John Bowyer, Israel 
Christian, John Maxwell, James Trimble, Benjamin Hawkins, David 
Robinson, William Fleming, George Skillern, and Benjamin Estell. 
On the 13th of February the county court was organized, with 
Andrew Lewis presiding. John May qualified as clerk under "a 
commission from Mr. Secretary Nelson," Richard Woods qualified 
as sheriff under a commission from the Governor ; and James 
McDowell and James McGavock qualified as his deputies. William 
Preston qualified as surveyor under a commission from the President 
and Masters of William and Mary College and the seal of the 
College. Preston also qualified as Escheator under a commission 
from the Governor. Tazewell County for the succeeding two years 
was a part of Botetourt County. Settlements had previously been 
made in the Upper Clinch Valley, and the county court of Botetourt 
at its May term, 1770, ordered Anthony Bledsoe to make a list of 
the tithables in the Clinch settlements. The settlers on the Clinch 
and the Holston then had to go to Fincastle, the county seat of 
Botetourt, to attend courts and perform the ordinary duties of 
citizenship. At the August term, 1770, of the county court, Rees 
Bowen, from the Clinch, and Arthur Campbell, from the Holston 
settlements, were selected by the litigants to arbitrate a suit in which 
Thomas Baker was plaintiff and Israel Christian was defendant. 
Bowen and Campbell a few years later became very distinguished 
as citizens and soldiers. Israel Christian was a justice of the county 
court and donated the land whereon the county seat, Fincastle, is 
located. 

Responding to a petition of the inhabitants who lived west of 
New River, the General Assembly on the 8th of April, 1772, passed 
an act for dividing Botetourt into two counties. The new county 
was named Fincastle, and the county seat was located at the Lead 
Mines in the present Wythe County. Organization of the county 
government of Fincastle was effected on the 5tli day of January, 
1773. All the territory west of New River and south of tlie Ohio, 



550 History of Tazewell^County 

including Kentucky, was placed in the bounds of the new county ; 
and the present Tazewell County became a part of Fincastle County. 

About three years after the organization of Fincastle County, 
in 1776, the people of Virginia x'evolted against Great Britain, and 
established for themselves an independent government — the Com- 
monwealth of Virginia. Shortly afterwards, tlie inhabitants of 
Kentucky petitioned the General Assembly to form the territory 
they were occupying into a distinct county. Thereupon the inhabi- 
tants east of the Cumberland Mountains addressed petitions to the 
General Assembly, requesting that the balance of Fincastle County, 
lying east of said mountain, be divided into two distinct counties. 
In answer to the said petition, the General Assembly on December 
7th, 1776, passed an act which divided Fincastle County into three 
counties, to be named, respectively, Kentucky, Washington, and 
Montgomery. When the line between the last mentioned counties 
was run a part of the territory afterwards erected into the county 
of Tazewell was put in Washington, but the greater part was 
assigned to Montgomery. 

In 1785 the inhabitants of that j)art of Washington County 
situated west and north of the Clinch Mountain petitioned the 
General Assembly for the formation of a new county. An act was 
passed on January 6th, 1786, in response to the petition, erecting 
a county which was named Russell, in honor of General William 
Russell, the pioneer patriot. The southeastern dividing line between 
Washing-ton and Russell began on the top of Clinch Mountain, 
opposite and south of Morris' Knob, and ran along the said moun- 
tain to the North Carolina, now Tennessee, line. All the territory 
now embraced in Lee, Scott, Wise, Dickenson, and Russell, and part 
of the territory of Tazewell and Buchanan counties was comprised 
in the original boundaries of Russell County. Pursuant to the act 
of the General Assembly, the county court of Russell convened at 
the house of William Roberson in Castle's Woods, on May 9th, 
1786, and organized the county government. David Ward, one of 
the first settlers in Tazewell, was one of the justices commissioned 
for Russell by Patrick Henry, who was then filling a second term 
as Governor of Virginia. Captain Ward also qualified as the first 
sheriff of the county. Part of the present Tazewell County was 
then within the limits of Russell County. 

The inhabitants of Montgomery County who lived west of 



and Southwest Virginia 551 

New River sent a petition to the General Assembly, in 1789, asking 
that a new county be erected from that part of Montgomery lying 
west of New River. On December 1st, 1789, an act was passed 
for dividing the county of Montgomery into two counties. And 
the act provided: "That from and after the first day of May next, 
all that part of the county of Montgomery, which lies southwest 
of a line beginning on the Henry line, at the head of Big Reedy 
Island, from thence to the wagon ford on Peek Creek, thence to 
Clover Bottom on Bluestone, thence to the Kanawha County line, 
shall be a distinct county, and be called and known by the name 
of Wythe." 

On the 19th of December, 1799, the General Assembly passed 
an act creating the county of Tazewell, to be formed from a part 
of Wythe, and a part of Russell. From the foregoing synopsis of 
the processes by which Tazewell County came into existence it is 
easy to trace its civil descent from the first colony planted at James- 
town. The following is the line of descent: 

"The Grand Assemblie Holden at James City the 21st of 
August, 1633," passed an act that divided the Virginia Colony 
into eight shires, which were to be governed as the shires of Eng- 
land, and named as follows : 

"James City Warwick River 

Henrico Warrosquyoak 

Charles City Charles River 

Elizabeth City Accawmack" 

"The Grand Assemblie, holden at James Citty the 2nd of March, 
1642-3" passed an act which declared in part: "It is likewise 
enacted and confirmed that Charles River shall be distinguished 
by this name (County of York)." This meant that Charles River 
Shire, created by the act of August 21st, 1633, should thereafter 
be known as York County, and in this manner York County was 
created in 1643. 

New Kent County was formed from York County in 1654. 

King and Queen County was formed from New Kent in 1691, 
the third year of the reign of William and Mary. 

Essex County was formed from a part of (old) Rappahannock 
in 1692. "Old Rappahannock" having previously been a part of 
York County. 



552 History of Tazewell County 

Thus it is seen that the two counties, King and Queen and Essex, 
were directly descended from Charles River Shire. 

King William County was formed from King and Queen County 
in 1701. 

Spottsylvania was formed from Essex, King and Queen, and 
King William in 1720. 

Orange County was formed from Spottsylvania in 1724. 

Augusta County was formed from Orange in 1738. 

Botetourt County was formed from Augusta in 1769. 

Fincastle County was formed from Botetourt in 1772. 

Washington County and Montgomery County were formed from 
Fincastle in 1776. 

Russell County was formed from Washington in 1786. 

Wythe County was formed from Montgomery in 1789. 

Tazewell County was formed from Wythe and Russell in 1799. 

By and through the foi'egoing detailed processes, covering a 
pei'iod of one hundred and ninety-two years, the great county of 
Tazewell was generated from the first permanent English settle- 
ment made upon the North American Continent. 

CHANGES MADE IN THE GEOGRAPHICAL LINES OF TAZEWELL COUNTY. 

After the formation of Tazewell County, in 1799, various 
changes were made in its geographical lines before it was reduced 
to its present limitations. A few of the changes were caused by 
accretions to the original limits, but most of the alterations were 
made by taking from the county large areas that have since been 
disclosed as veritable El Dorados of mineral wealth. The first 
change that was made in the boundary lines was occasioned by the 
creation of Giles County. It was formed from the counties of 
Montgomery, Monroe, Tazewell, and Wythe, by an act passed 
January 16th, 1806. This eliminated from the eastern side of 
Tazewell County, a valuable strip of territory east of Rocky Gap, 
which extended from the top of Brushy Mountain to the Kanawha 
County line. 

On the 20tli of December, 1806, the General Assembly passed 
an act which provided for taking a narrow strip from Russell 
County, and attaching it to Tazewell. The western line of this 
boundary has been given in a preceding chapter, and need not be 
restated. 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 553 

The General Assembly passed an act on the 12th of January, 
1824, creating Logan County. That county was formed from Giles, 
Kanawha, Cabell, and Tazewell, and was named from Logan, the 
great Indian chief. The territory taken from Tazewell, ^as, in 
recent years, become very wealthy. 

A very considerable and valuable addition to the territory of 
Tazewell was made by an act of the General Assembly, on January 
4th, 1826. This act placed Poor Valley in Tazewell. When I 
began writing the history of the county, I made inquiry of county 
officers, and the lawyers at Tazewell, and many of the older citizens, 
and no one could inform me liow Poor Valley became a part of the 
county. I searched for information in the State Library, and 
found the following passed by the General Assembly as above 
stated: 

"Whereas it is represented to the present General Assembly, 
by sundry inhabitants of the counties of Washington and Wythe, 
that in consequence of the great distance at which they reside from 
their court houses, muster-fields, and other public places, and having 
in going thither to cross three lai-ge mountains, they labour under 
great inconvenience and difficulty, and the tract of country in which 
they reside being very thinly inhabited, and not likely soon to be 
otherwise ; wherefore, 

"I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That all that part 
of the counties of Washington and Wythe, known by the name of 
Poor Valley, and within the following boundaries, to wit: "Begin- 
ning on the top of Clinch Mountain, at the highest jDoint opposite 
the plantation of Major John Ward; thence a south course until 
it strikes the top of little Piney Mountain in the county of Washings 
ton, and witli the top of said mountain, running east to Wilson's 
Gap in the covmty of Wythe, thence a north course until it inter- 
sects the Tazewell county line, shall be a part of the county of 
Tazewell." 

On January 9th, 1826, the General Assembly passed an act 
which took from Tazewell a small boundary of territory and added 
it to Giles County. 

An act was passed on March 12th, 1834, restoring a part of 
Logan County to Tazewell. The boundary lines of the restored 
section were as follows: "Beginning at the Dry fork of Sandy 



554 History of Tazewell County 

river, and running thence a northern course to the top of the ridge 
dividing tlie waters of Guyandotte and Sandy Rivers; thence along 
the top of said ridge to the Flat Top Mountain (so as to include 
the now residence of James Marshall) to the line of Tazewell 
County, where it corners on Logan and Giles counties, shall be 
annexed to and be henceforth a part of the county of Tazewell." 

By an act of the General Assembly passed on February 3rd, 
1835, Tazewell had another accretion from Russell County. The 
act is as follows: "I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, 
that so much of the county of Russell as lays next to and adjoining 
the county of Tazewell, and is contained in the following boundary 
lines, to wit: beginning at the line dividing the counties on the 
top of Kent's ridge, thence a straight line (crossing Clinch river a 
short distance below the mouth of Mill Creek) to the forks of said 
creek, thence up said creek, (the north branch thereof) to the top 
of the dividing ridge between Sandy and Clinch rivers, leaving the 
road to the northeast, thence along the top of said ridge to the 
ridge of mountains dividing the Louisa and Russell forks of Sandy 
river, and down said ridge of mountains to the Kentucky line, shall 
be annexed to, and be henceforth a part of the county of Tazewell." 

On March 18th, 1836, another small boundary was taken from 
Tazewell and added to Giles by an act of the General Assembly, and 
defined as follows: "That so much of the farm formerly owned by 
Archibald Burdett (and now by George W. Pearis) containing three 
hundred and thirty-seven acres, as lies within the county of Taze- 
well, shall be annexed to and be henceforth a part of the county of 
Giles." This farm was located on East River. 

The General Assembly by an act passed on March 17th, 1837, 
formed the county of Mercer from the counties of Giles and Taze- 
well. This new county was named from General Hugh Mercer, 
who was mortally wounded at the battle of Princeton, January 3rd, 
1777. He was one of the splendid heroes of the American Revolu- 
tion, and the county seat of Mercer County was given its name in 
commemoration of the battle in which General Mercer lost his life. 
The act of the General Assembly separated from Tazewell County 
territory that has since been developed into one of the richest 
mineral sections of the North American Continent. The boundary 
lines of the new county established by the General Assembly, were 
as follows: 



and Southwest Virginia 555 

"Beginning at the mouth of East river in Giles county and fol- 
lowing the meanders thereof (East River) up to Toney's mill dam; 
thence along the top of said mountain (East River Mountain) to a 
point opposite the upper end of the old plantation of Jesse Belcher 
deceased, thence a straight line to Peerie's mill dam near the mouth 
of Alps (Abbs) Valley, thence to a point well known by the name 
of the Pealed Chestnuts; thence to the top of Flat top mountain; 
thence along said mountain with the lines of Logan, Fayette and 
Tazewell counties to New River, thence up and along the various 
meanderings of the same to the beginning." 

An examination of the act creating Mercer County, as printed in 
the Acts of 1836-1837, reveals the fact that the second line or call, 
defining the boundaries, was omitted from the printed act. This 
omission was rectified by an act passed by the General Assembly 
on March 13th, 1847. The act directed that this omitted line be 
run by commissioners, commencing at "Toney's Mill dam and run 
thence a direct line to the top of East River Mountain," and thence 
for the residue of said lines as prescribed by the act of March 17th, 
1837. The omitted line was duly run by commissioners. 

There were no further alterations in the outlines of Tazewell 
County until 1858, when the counties of Buchanan and McDowell 
were formed. On February 13th, 1858, the General Assembly 
passed an act creating Buchanan County to be formed from parts 
of the counties of Tazewell and Russell. And on the 20th of 
February, 1858, the General Assembly passed an act to form a new 
county out of a part of the county of Tazewell, to be called and 
known by the name of the county of McDowell. 

The dividing line between Tazewell and Buchanan begins at a 
point on the Dividing Ridge, about eight or nine miles northwest 
of the village of Raven; and from thence runs along said ridge to 
Bear Wallow. And the dividing line between Tazewell and 
McDowell starts at the point where the counties of Tazewell and 
Buchanan corner at Bear Wallow. Thence the line runs "east- 
wardly along the ridge between Clinch and the Dry Fork of Sandy, 
to a place called the "But of Belsher's ridge;" thence a straight 
line to the mouth of Horse Pen Creek, and up the same to Jesse 
Doughtons, and up the left hand fork of said Horse Pen Creek to 
the Low Gap in Tug Ridge; thence with the same to the ridge 
between Abb's Valley and Sandy, to the Mercer line." 



556 History of Tazewell^County 

By the erection of these two new counties, Tazewell had to part 
with a large territory that abounded with vast natural resources. 
The extent of the area assigned to Buchanan County is about 300 
square miles, and to McDowell about 533 square miles. The territory 
given to both counties was mag-nificently timbered and was known 
to have beneath its surface extensive veins of coal. These natural 
resources were then but little appreciated, as the possibility of 
making them available to the markets of the world were believed 
to be indefinite and remote. 

According to the United States census taken in 1860, two years 
after Buchanan was formed, the county had a population of 2,793 
persons. The census of 1910 made the population of the county 
12,334 souls. The taxable values of Buchanan County in 1860 
amounted to the small sum of $304,506; and the assessed taxable 
values in 1918 amounted to the large sum of $5,037,721. 

The last change made in the boundary lines of Tazewell County 
was caused b}^ the establishment of Bland Count}'. On the 30th 
of March, 1861, eighteen days before Virginia seceded from the 
Union, the General Assembly passed an act to form Bland County 
from the counties of Giles, Wythe and Tazewell. The dividing 
line between Tazwell and Bland began at the top of East River 
mountain at the then county line between Giles and Tazewell ; 
"thence with the top of said East River mountain, westward, to a 
point two miles west of George Steel's house, on Clear fork; 
thence across and by a line as near as may be at right angles to 
the course of the valley between, to the top of Rich mountain, and 
westward along the top of said Rich mountain, so far as to include 
the settlement on Wolf creek, thence across the top of Garden moun- 
tain; thence along the top of the said Garden mountain, to a point 
through which the line between Wythe and Smyth would pass if 
prolonged ; thence by said prolonged line, to the said line between 
Wythe and Smyth." 

This left Tazewell County with its present physical outlines, 
and with an area of 557 square miles. 

tazewfll's losses almost inestimable. 

What Tazewell has lost in the way of wealth by the detachment 
of territory that was incorporated in the bounds of the present coun- 
ties of McDowell and Mercer, West Virginia, is almost inestimable. 



and Southwest Virginia 557 

Each year that has passed since the development of the vast mineral 
and other resources of these two counties was begun has served to 
enlarge the measure of Tazewell's loss; and the extent of the loss 
will continue to be augumented for manj^ years to come. 

Of the territory that originally constituted Tazewell County, 
that which has made the most marvelous progress in wealth and 
population is the present county of McDowell, West Virginia. When 
McDowell was taken from Tazewell, in 1858, it was so inaccessible 
and unsuited for agricultural purposes that it was not deemed a loss, 
but was, possibly, considered a social and economic gain for the 
mother county. 

JNfcDowell Count}' had at the time it was formed, and still has, 
an area of 533 square miles, 24 miles less than the present area of 
Tazewell County. In 1859 there were but 282 freeholders in the 
county, and only about one-tliird of the land was placed upon the 
Land Books for taxation —the remaining two-thirds being unentered 
and still held by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The lands held by 
private ownership were assessed at 12 cents per acre, and the 
amount added for buildings on all the privately owned land was the 
small sum of $3,240, making the total assessed value of the lands 
and buildings $163,585.00. The taxes collected from these assess- 
ments amounted to the meagre sum of $654.38. These figures have 
been furnished me from memorandums found in the clerk's office of 
McDowell County. The records in the State Auditor's Office, at 
Richmond, show that the real estate values returned from the county 
in 1860 amounted to $93,190, and the personal property to $39,520 
— a total of $132,710. 

That the wealth of McDowell has been enonmously increased 
is shown by the following tables which are made from the county 
records : 

Assessed Values, 1918. 

Real Estate $30,614,783.00 

Personal Property 11,456,892.00 

Public Utility Property 12,344,692,78 

Total $54,416,367.78 



558 History of Tazewell County 

Taxes Levied for all Purposes for the Year 1917 in 
McDowell County. 

Real Estate $132,936.00 

Personal Property 152,903.00 

Public Utility Property 174,221.00 

Total $760,060.00 

These tables show that the increase in the taxable values of 
McDowell since the county was organized amounted to the astound- 
ing sura of $54,252,782.00. They further show that the taxes paid 
in the county in 1917 amounted to a sum six times as great as the 
assessed value of all lands and buildings in McDowell in the year 
1859. 

The source of the stupendous growth in the way of taxable 
wealth and population of McDowell is primarly found in the exten- 
sive mining of the vast deposits of coal that underlie nearly every 
acre of land in the county. There are a number of coal operations 
along Tug River, which stream flows through the county from its 
southern to its northern border. Like conditions are foimd on the 
Dry Fork, and on all the other creeks and branches that are trib- 
utaries of Tug. Enormous quantities of coal are being mined and 
shipped to every section of the United States. The coal products in 
1917 were: 18,671,942 tons of coal, and 1,415,490 tons of coke — 
a total of 20,087,432 tons. 

It is not surprising that the extensive mining operations have 
increased the population of the county in proportion to its wealth. 
The census of 1860 gave McDowell a population of 1,533 — all 
white persons. I have been unable to procure the returns from the 
census which has been taken this year by the Government, but it is 
estimated that this census will give the county a population of at 
least 90,000. 

Another evidence of the marvelous progress of McDowell 
County is found in what she did in the way of supplying men for 
the service during the late horrible war. The State of West Vir- 
ginia, from her 55 counties, furnished 65,648 men under the Select 
Service Act; and McDowell headed the list, by furnishing 3,081 men 
that were inducted into military service by the Local Boards; and, 
yet the county had no large cities from which to draw the men. Of 
the number furnished, 1,578 were white men, and 1,503 were 



and Southwest Virginia 559 

colored. It is also a fact^ that a large number volunteered and 
entered the service through various recruiting offices. With these 
added, McDowell gave not less than 4,000 soldiers to the Govern- 
ment for service in the late war. 

McDowell County has developed into a splendid industrial com- 
munity, and will continue to progress as such for many years to 
come, as her vast mineral resources have merely reached an initial 
stage of development. But she has already attained sufficient 
industrial standing to make her of great economic value to Tazewell, 
her mother county. 



The severance from Tazewell of that jwrtion of her territory 
which was made a part of Mercer County, by an act of the Virginia 
General Assembly in 1837, has also proven a heavy economic loss 
to the mother county. All of the present area of Mercer County 
situated west of a straight line, beginning at the top of East River 
Mountain at a point about ten miles east of the city of Bluefield, 
crossing East River just west of Ingleside, thence to the western 
limits of the city of Princeton, and thence to the northern line of 
Mercer, was compi'ised in the original boundaries of Tazewell 
County. Within this area as great industrial activity has prevailed 
during the past twenty-five or thirty years as that which has 
wrought such astonishing results in McDowell County; and with 
like results in the way of accumulated wealth and increased popu- 
lation. 

The celebrated Flat Top coal fields are located upon territory 
that was taken from Tazewell; and these fields were the next to 
be developed after the mining of coal was commenced at Pocahontas. 
Bluefield, the magic city of this region, is also situated within this 
area. In fact, about one-half of the territory of the present Mercer 
County was taken from Tazewell County, and this has made the 
business and social relations between these two counties very inti- 
mate ever since Mercer was erected into a county. 

It was my purpose to give as detailed statement of the progress 
made by Mercer as I have written of McDowell County. I have 
gotten repeated promises that data would be supplied to that end, 
but the desired information has not been given. However, I do 



560 History of Tazewell County 

know that there has been, comparatively, as marvelous increase in 
the wealth and population of Mercer County as in McDowell. The 
assessed values of all property — real estate, personal property, 
and public utility property — in Mercer County in 1918, amounted to 
the sum of $41,650,020 This, of course, includes the assessed 
values of the cities of Bluefield and Princeton. It has been esti- 
mated that, at least, $37,000,000 of these values are located within 
the territory that was taken from Tazewell and given to Mercer. 

By estimate, the city of Bluefield has about 15,000 inhabitants 
and Princeton about 8,000. The mining towns in the Flat Top 
region, and those that are scattered along the Norfolk and Western, 
and the Virginian Railway, will, no doubt, make the population of 
Mercer County quite as large as that of McDowell. 

Bluefield is bountifully supjDlied with banking capital, does a 
large amount of business in the mercantile and manufacturing lines, 
is rapidly increasing its population, and is constantly extending its 
improved (building) area toward the line which separates Tazewell 
County from West Virginia. In fact, the improved limits of Blue- 
field and those of Graham (Tazewell's largest town) are now 
nearly united, and may, in the near future, be called the "Twin- 
Cities." Bluefield is not only the metropolis of the Pocahontas, 
Flat Top, and Elkhorn coal fields, but occupies the same relation 
to Taxwell County and the entire Upper Clinch Valley. 



War and Reconstruction Period 



Detailing the Causes of the Civil War and What 
Transpired from 1861 to 1870 



T.H.— 36 



I 



WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD 



CHAPTER I. 

PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR. 

The Presidential election of 1860 marked a distinct era in the 
political thought and practices of the people of the United States. 
As early as 1818 events began to transpire in the field of American 
politics that forced the reforming of political parties and threatened 
to disrupt the Union. It was in December, 1818, that the "Mist- 
souri Question," as it was then called, made its appearance through 
the introduction in Congress of a bill for the admission of Missouri 
to the Union as a slave State. While Missouri had been a Territory, 
large numbers of slaveholders from Southern States had moved into 
the Territory and taken their slaves with them. When the bill for 
its admission to the Union as a slave State came before the House 
of Representatives, James Tallraadge, Jr., of New York, moved 
to amend it by providing that "the further introduction of slavery 
be prohibited in said State of Missouri, and that all children 
(negroes) born in the State after its admission to the Union shall 
be free at the age of twenty-five years." The discussion of the 
bill, as amended, was marked with great ability and much acrimony. 
Of course, the members from the South, with Henry Clay as their 
leader, were violently opposed to the Tallmadge amendment. But 
the ability of Mr. Clay and the stubborn resistance of the Southern 
members could not stem the swelling tide of anti-slavery sentiment 
that was sweeping over the North and Middle West. The bill, as 
amended by Tallmadge, was passed by the House, but when it 
went to the Senate the anti-slavery amendment was bitterly opposed 
by the Southern Senators, and the amendment was rejected. Then 
tlie House refused to recede; and for a time Missouri was denied 
admission to the Union. 

At the following session of Congress, in December, 1819, the 
Missouri question again came to the front, when a bill was intro- 
duced to admit Maine to the Union as a free State. The bill for 
-the admission of Missouri was re-introduced immediately following 

[563] 



564 History of Tazewell County 

the introduction of the Maine bill. This aroused another fast and 
furious debate between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery member- 
ship of the House. But the Missouri bill with the anti-slavery 
restriction was again passed, as was the Maine bill, by the House. 
When the two bills went to the Senate that body refused to concur, 
and a single bill, uniting Maine and Missouri for admission to the 
Union, was introduced. Thereupon, Jesse B. Thomas, a senator 
from Illinois, proposed a compromise feature to the bill, which 
has since been known among politicians as the "Missouri Compro- 
mise." This compromise provision forever prohibited slavery north 
of 36 30' in all the territory which President Jefferson acquired 
from France in 1803 by what has since been known, and shown 
on the maps, as the Louisiana Purchase. It was passed in the 
Senate, but the House refused to admit the two States by a single 
bill. The compromise feature, however, was accejjted by the enact- 
ment by the House of separate bills for the admission of the two 
States. Missouri then made a Constitution which forbid the resi- 
dence of free negroes in the State. This so provoked the anti- 
slavery members of Congress that they refused at the next session 
to admit the State. After a prolonged and heated discussion, a 
compromise was effected by writing into the bill a provision, "that 
Missouri should be admitted to the Union upon the fundamental 
condition that no law should ever be passed by her Legislature 
enforcing the objectionable provision in her Constitution, and that 
by a solemn public act the State should declare and record her 
assent to this condition, and transmit to the President of the United 
States an authentic copy of the Act. The disciplinary condition 
was grudgingly accepted, and Missouri thus secured admission to 
the Union. 

Thomas Jefferson and the older statesmen then living, the men 
who had helped to carry the colonies successfully through the 
Revolution and establish our independence, were greatly distressed 
and alarmed by tlie course the Missouri question had taken. The 
Compromise had established a geographical line between the free 
and slave States; and they believed this would ultimatel}' generate 
bitter sectional feeling and bring disaster to the Union. In these 
gloomy apprehensions, future events proved they were not mistaken. 
Mr. Jefferson was then living in retirement at a venerable age, 
but was still in possession of his unsually great mental faculties. 



and Southwest Virginia 565 

While the Compromise measure was pending in Congress, he gave 
expression to his fears in a letter he wrote to a member of the 
House of Representatives. He said, that "the Missouri question 
is the most portentous one which has ever threatened the Union. 
In the gloomiest hour of the Revolutionary War I never had any 
apprehensions equal to those which I feel from this source." 

Following the admission of Missouri to the Union the slavery 
question for a while ceased to be a disturbing issue in the politics of 
the country. But the heated controversies in Congress over the 
extension of slavery had compelled a complete reconstruction of 
political parties. The Federalist party, because of the avowed 
hostility of its founders to j^opular government, had steadily disin- 
tegrated, and in 1820 had become an impotent organization. And 
the Republican party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, after his 
death on July 4th, 1826, was destroyed as an effective organization 
through the rivalries and jealousies of its leaders. Two new, 
vigorous organizations, the Whig and Democratic parties, were con- 
structed from the ruins of the two old parties. The rank and file 
of the Wliig party came almost entirely from the Federalists and 
the anti-slavery men of the North and West, while the Democratic 
party was composed almost entirely of the followers of Tliomas 
Jefferson. Henry Clay had been a nominal adherent of Mr. Jef- 
ferson, but had evinced a leaning to some of the principles of the 
Federalists, such as the tariff, suffrage, and finance. This caused 
him to unite his political fortunes with the Whigs and to be made 
the most brilliant and highly esteemed leader of that party until 
his death, which occurred June 29th, 1852. Andrew Jackson, who 
had been all the while a zealous disciple of Mr. Jefferson, naturally 
became the aggressive leader of the Democrats, and he remained 
the idol of his party until the day of his death, which came on the 
8th of June, 1845. 

The new political parties had their first contest in the Presi- 
dential election of 1828. Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun 
were the candidates of the Democrats for President and Vice 
President; and John Quincy Adams and Richard Rush were the 
candidates of the Whigs. The slavery question was completely 
ignored during the campaign by both parties, but the Whigs pro- 
jected two new issues of such absorbing interest that all other 
questions were cast aside in what was one of the most memorable 



566 History of Tazewell County 

political struggles that has ever taken place in the United States. 
The Whigs made their fight on what they termed "Militarism/' 
and "Disunion/' charging that General Jackson would turn the 
Government into a military depotism, if he was made President; 
and that Calhoun would disrupt the Union, if he was given the 
opportunity. These new and alarmist issues proved unavailing 
for the Whigs. General Jackson had received as a gift from the 
hands of Mr. Jefferson the leadership of American democracy, and 
this was a potent influence which brought victory for the Demo- 
cratic ticket. 



In 1836 an event occurred which, a few years later, made the 
slavery question a more alarming issue in American politics than 
ever before. About the same time the Missouri question was 
agitating the country American citizens began to settle in that part 
of Texas which lies west of the Sabine River. This part of Texas 
had been relinquished to Spain by treaty when she ceded Florida to 
the United States. Many of the settlers had taken slaves with them 
to Texas; and by the year 1833, eleven years after Mexico had 
become an independent republic, the number of Americans in Texas 
had reached twenty thousand. They determined to establish for 
themselves a republic, independent of Mexico. To promote this 
scheme, in 1835, a provisional government was set up; and General 
Sam Houston was made commander-in-chief of the military forces. 
Houston drove all the Mexicans from Texas. General Santa Anna 
invaded the country in February, 1836, and invested the Alamo, 
the old Spanish fort near San Antonio, which was held by a small 
garrison of Texans under the command of Colonel Davy Crockett. 
The fort was stormed by the Mexicans and all the garrison butch- 
ered by order of Santa Anna. Four days previous to the bloody 
tragedy at the Alamo, the Texans held a convention and issued a 
declaration of independence. In September, 1836, General Houston 
was elected President of the Republic; and a Congress was also 
elected and held its first session in October, 1836. 

In 1837, the independence of the "Lone Star State," as it was 
then called, was recognized by the United States. The political 
leaders in Texas then began to advocate annexation of the State 
to the United States. This scheme was bitterly opposed by the 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 567 

anti-slavery men of the North and cordially supported by the slave- 
holders of the South. But the leaders of both the great National 
parties studiously avoided making the Texas question an issue until 
1844-, when it became the supreme issue in the Presidential election 
of that year. 

John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of State, concluded a treaty 
of annexation with Texas, which was communicated to the Senate 
by President Tyler on the 12th of April, 1844. In negotiating the 
treaty, Mr. Calhoun's purpose was to defeat Martin Van Buren, 
who was again seeking the nomination by the Democrats for the 
Presidency; and also to make the annexation of Texas the chief 
issue between the two National parties. 

The treaty was received with great disfavor by the Whigs, as 
Mr. Clay, who was their leader and their avowed candidate for 
the Presidency, had declared his opposition to the annexation of 
Texas. And Mr. Van Buren's supporters also, generally, opposed 
it, because he had pronounced against annexation. In fact, he and 
Mr. Clay, believing that they would be the candidates of their 
respective parties, had agreed that the Texas question should not 
be injected into the campaign. 

When the National Convention of the Democratic party assem- 
bled at Baltimore, the 27th of May, 1844, the treaty was .still 
pending in the Senate. Nothwithstanding the fact that a majoi'ity 
of the delegates on the first ballot voted for Van Buren, it became 
impossible to nominate him, as the delegates from the South insisted 
upon the adoption and enforcement of the two-thirds rule which 
had been used at preceding national conventions of the party. The 
Southern delegates stood for James K. Polk, of Tennessee, and 
secured his nomination ; and the ticket was completed by nominating 
George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, for Vice President. The con- 
vention declared for the annexation of Texas ; and the Democrats 
immediately adopted for their battle cry: "Polk, Dallas, and 
Texas," following the example of the Whigs, who had successfully 
waged their campaign in 1040 with the cry: "Tippecanoe and 
Tyler Too." 

The Whigs had held their National Convention at Baltimore on 
the 1st of May, and nominated Henry Clay by acclamation for 
President; and had chosen Theodore Frelinghuysen as their candi- 
date for Vice. President. In a communication written from Raleigh, 



568 History of Tazewell County 

North Carolina, on the 17th of April, 1844, and published in the 
National Intelligencer, then a Whig organ, Mr. Clay had announced 
his opposition to the annexation of Texas. He gave several reasons 
for opposing the treaty. One was, that, although Texas had been 
a part of the territory acquired by purchase from France, our 
Government had parted with that portion of the territory beyond 
the Sabine River, by the treaty with Spain in 1819; and that the 
Sabine line had been recognized and accepted by the United States 
in subsequent negotions with Spain, and with Mexico after that 
country became a republic. Mr. Clay did not think it would be 
honorable and just for us to regard our treaty with Spain as a 
mere "scrap of paper," though he had heartily opposed its ratifica- 
tion by Congress. Another reason he assigned for his opposi- 
tion was that: "Annexation and war with Mexico are identical." 
He declared: "Assuming that the annexation of Texas is war 
with Mexico, is it competent to the treaty-making power to plunge 
this country into war, not only without the concurrence of, but 
without deigning to consult Congress, to which, by the constitution, 
belongs exclusively the power of declaring war.^" 

By the nomination of Mr. Polk the Democrats had forced the 
Whigs to accept the Texas question as the paramount issue of the 
Presidential campaign, and which Mr. Clay's Raleigh letter had 
invited them to do. But the Democrats shrewdly determined to 
strengthen their position by coupling the Oregon question with that 
of the annexation of Texas. Great Britain was then secretly form- 
ing plans to wrest Oregon from the United States upon a fictitious 
claim to the splendid territory which now constitutes the two great 
States of Oregon and Washington. Our old enemy, Great Britain, 
also had her agents actively and offensively at work in Texas to 
prevent the Lone Star State becoming a member of the Union. Thus 
was General Jackson given excellent opportunity to hurl one of his 
terrible javelins at his personal and political foe, Mr. Clay; and to 
assail the integrity of the British Government, which he cordially 
despised for its treacherous conduct in Texas and its avowed pur- 
pose to steal Oregon from tlie United States. The old hero of 
the Democracy did his work effectively through a letter written 
from the Hermitage, June 24th, 1844, to a friend in Indiana. In 
the letter, he first attacked Mr. Clay's views on the national bank, 
system of taxation, and other questions; and then assailed his posi- 



and Southwest Virginia 569 

tion on the Texas question, as follows: "He says, virtually, that 
Texas ought not to be admitted into the Union, while there is a 
respectable and considerable portion of our citizens opposed to it. 
On such a condition it is obvious annexation can never take place. 
British influence had considerable and respectable advocates in 
this country in our Revolutionary War, and our second war with 
her. Will it ever be without them? Never. As long as there are 
fanatics in religion, as there are diversities and differences in human 
opinion respecting the forms of government and the rights of the 
people, such advocacy will be found resisting the advance of insti- 
tutions like ours, and laboring to incorporate with them the features 
of an opposite system. 

"Who does not see that the people of the United States are 
competitors with the people of England in the manufacturing arts, 
and in the carrying trade of the world? And that the question is 
soon to be, if it be not already, whether Texas and Oregon are to 
be considered as auxiliaries to American or British interests? 
Whether these vast and fertile regions are to be settled by our 
posterity, blessed by republican government — or are to become the 
theatre of British enterprise, and thus add another link to the vast 
colonial claim by which that great monarchy upholds its lords and 
nobles, and extracts from suffering millions the earnings of their 
labor? 

* 45- * * * 

"The American peojjle cannot be deceived in this manner. They 
know that the real object of England is to check the prosperity of 
the United States — and lessen their power to compete with England 
as a naval power, and as a growing agricultural, manufacturing 
and commercial country. They know that Lord Aberdeen, in the 
midst of thousands and thousands of starving subjects of the British 
monarchy, is more anxious, or ought to be, to relieve the wants of 
those wretched people than he can be to alter the relation subsisting 
between the white and black races of this country." 

General Jackson closed the letter with an appeal to the American 
people to not "let slip the opportunity now offered of concentrating 
their Union, and promoting the general causes of their prosperity 
and happiness, by the annexation of Texas." 

The views of General Jackson, as set forth in this letter, were 
promulgated throughout the Union as quickly as possible by Mr. 



570 History of Tazewell County 

Polk's party managers; and, possibly, it did more to secure success 
for Polk and Dallas than any other one thing that transpired in the 
campaign. It gave fresh impulse to the already aggressive policy 
of the Democatic party for territorial acquisition, a policy which 
had always been popular with the American people, and all peoples 
who have a strain of Anglo-Saxon blood in their veins. It also 
aroused enthusiasm in the young men of adventurous and daring 
spirit, who were eager to see something of "grim visaged war." 

For the first time in his political life, Mr. Clay had placed himr 
self on the hesitating or timid side of any grave question that had 
arisen in the politics of the country. He had enthusiastically 
advocated war with Great Britain in 1812 ; had ardently opposed the 
treaty of 1819 which ceded to Spain all that portion of Texas west 
of the Sabine River; and had stubbornly resisted the efforts of the 
Abolitionists to prevent the introduction of slavery into the territory 
acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. 

The great Whig leader, being put upon the defensive, and 
believing that he was losing favor with the pro-slavery Southern 
Whigs, because of his pronounced hostility to the annexation of 
Texas, was induced to modify his position on the Texas question. 
This was accomplished through a letter Mr. Clay wrote to Stephen 
Miller, editor of the Tuscaloosa (Ala.) Monitor, in which he said: 
"Personally I could have no objection to the annexation of Texas; 
but I certainly would be unwilling to see the existing Union dis- 
solved or seriously jeopordized for the sake of acquiring Texas." 
But in the letter, Mr. Clay spoke of the treaty for the annexation 
of Texas as "Mr. Tyler's abominable treaty." The letter was used 
with telling effect by the Democrats, who designated it Mr. Clay's 
"Death Warrant." They insisted that Mr. Clay was playing 
double, that he was pandering to the Abolition sentiment at the 
North by expressing opposition to the Texas treaty, and was curry- 
ing favor with the slaveholders in the South by proclaiming that 
he was "personally" friendly to annexation. 

Apparently, it had been the desire and purpose of both the 
parties to eliminate the slavery question from the campaign, as 
each of them had many friends at tlie North who were earnestly 
opposed to the extension of slavery. Mr. Clay's letter to Miller 
completely wrecked the intentions of the Whigs and the Democrats 
on that line. 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 571 

There was another concurrent circumstance that made slavery 
a very eventful issue in the future politics of the United States. 
The Abolitionists had nominated James G. Birney, of Michigan, as 
their candidate for the Presidency. In the Presidential campaign 
of 1840 Birney had been the candidate of the Abolitionists, who 
posed as the "Liberty Party." At the election in 1840 he received 
only 6,475 votes; but at the election of 1844 his vote was swelled 
to 62,127. Birney's followers in the election of 1844 were the 
rudiments from which the great Republican Party was developed ; 
and that sixteen years later,, under the guidance of Abraham Lin- 
coln, gained control of the Nation and preserved the Union. 

No more exciting political contest has ever been witnessed in 
the United States. More than two and a half million American 
citizens voted at the election. Of these, James K. Polk received 
the suffrage of 1,336,196; Henry Clay, 1,297,912; and James G. 
Birney, 62,127, giving Polk a plurality of 38,284 over Clay. The 
popular vote of South Carolina was not included in the foregoing, 
as the electors from that State were chosen by the Legislature. 
There were twenty-six States in the Union, with an aggregate of 275 
electoral votes. Of these, 170 were cast for James K. Polk and 105 
for Henry Clay, which gave Mr. Polk a majority of 70 in the 
electoral college. Polk's election was conceded to be a verdict of 
the people for the annexation of Texas. At the following session of 
Congress annexation was accomplished by a joint resolution, which 
was signed by President Tyler on the 1st of March, 1845, three 
days before the inauguration of President Polk. 



The assertion of Mr. Clay, in his letter written at Raleigh, that 
"Annexation and war with Mexico are identical," was reduced to a 
certainty two years after its utterance. During the winter of 1845- 
46 General Zachary Taylor was in command of the United States 
army that had been sent to Texas as an army of occupation. He 
was ordered to move westward and take a position on the east side 
of the Rio Grande; and on the 28th of March, 1846, he arrived at 
that river and went into camp opposite Matamoras. On the 22nd 
of April, General Ampudia, who was in command of the Mexican 
forces at Matamoras, notified General Taylor that he should break 
camp and march his army eastward beyond the Neuces River, that 



572 History of Tazewell County 

stream being claimed as an agreed boundary line between Mexico 
and Texas. General Taylor promptly refused to comply with the 
demands of the Mexican general ; and on the 24th of April, General 
Arista, who had taken command of the Mexican army, informed 
General Taylor that, "he considered hostilities commenced and 
should prosecute them." Immediately following the notification, 
General Taylor sent a detachment of sixty dragoons — officers and 
men — up the river as a scouting party, to ascertain if the Mexicans 
had crossed or were crossing the Rio Grande into Texas. The 
American party came in contact with a large force of Mexicans, 
seventeen of the Americans were killed and wounded, and the bal- 
ance captured. Thus began the war between the United States 
and Mexico. 

On the 11th of May, 1846, President Polk sent a message to 
Congress "invoking its prompt action to recognize the existence of 
war" and to place at the disposition of the Executive the means of 
prosecuting the contest with vigor, and thus hastening the restora- 
tion of peace. After the message was read in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, a bill was promptly introduced by an Administration 
supporter, declaring that "war existed by the act of Mexico," and 
giving authority to the President to call out and organize an army 
of fifty thousand men, and to supply them with all necessary 
equipments. The assertion in the preamble of the bill, that "war 
existed with Mexico," provoked a heated discussion of the measure 
by the Whig members of the House. They were reluctant to plunge 
the country into war with our neighbor republic uj^on the doubtful 
pretext that "our country had been invaded and American blood 
spilled on American soil." After a very brief debate a vote was 
forced on the measure; but fourteen members of the House had the 
courage to vote against the bill. 

Verj' soon after the declaration of war, agitation of the slavery 
question again assumed alarming proportions. From the commence- 
ment of hostilities with Mexico, the Whigs and Free-Soilers of the 
North had claimed that the war was being prosecuted to acquire 
territory into which slavery could be extended. This charge was 
reasserted when tlie President, three months after the formal 
declaration of war, sent a message to the Congress, suggesting 
that the chief obstacle to be surmounted in securing peace would be 
the adjustment of a boundary that would prove satisfactory and 



and Southwest Virginia 573 

convenient to both republics. The President conceded that we 
ought to give Mexico a just compensation for any territory she 
would be forced to cede to the United States as a result of the 
war. And he requested Congress to appropriate two millions of 
dollars to be "applied under the direction of the President to any 
extraordinary expenses which may be incurred in our foreign inter- 
course. " 

When the bill was receiving very harsh criticism from the Whigs 
and anti-slavery men in the House, David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, 
who was then serving his first term in Congress as a Democrat, 
offered, on Aug-ust 8th, 1846, an amendment providing "that as an 
express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any terri- 
tory from the republic of Mexico by the United States, neither 
slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in any part of said 
territory." This amendment has ever since been called the "Wilmot 
Proviso;" and it not only became an issue in the Congressional 
campaign then in progress, but was made the basis of the Free- 
Soilers' campaign in the Presidential election of 1848. 

The two million dollar bill was finally passed by the House, 
but failed of final action in the Senate by a filibuster which was 
lead by John Davis, a Senator from Massachusetts. At the next 
session of Congress the two million dollar bill was enlarged to 
three millions ; and the Administration had gained sufficient strength 
in both Houses to secure the passage of the bill without the proviso 
being attached. Tliough the Administration had gained a notable 
victory in securing the passage of the appropriation bill free of 
the Wilmot amendment, the Democrats had met a disaster in the 
Congressional elections the preceding fall, when a new Congress 
was elected. At that election the Whigs and Free-Soilers had won 
a majority in the House of Representatives, and it was certain 
that the Southern Democrats would be blocked in any effort to 
extend slavery into territory acquired from Mexico. 

The new Congress met in December, 1847, and Robert C. 
Winthrop, of Massachusetts, was made Speaker of the House by 
the Whigs. Mr. Winthrop had earnestly supported the Wilmot 
Proviso in the preceding Congress, and it was thought his election 
for Speaker would provoke renewed agitation of the slavery ques.- 
tion. But the Whig leaders were laying their plans to elect the 
President in 1848, and very wisely avoided the introduction of 



\ 



574 History of Tazewell County 

the slavery question into the proceedings of that session. The 
Democrats were alarmed by the success of the Whigs at the election 
the previous fall, and they, too, remained quiet. Both parties were 
then looking for their Presidental candidates for the approaching 
election. Remembering that the only success they had achieved 
at a Presidential election since the organization of their party was 
with a military hero for their candidate, the Whigs resolved to win 
victory in 1848 with a similar standard bearer. General Zachary 
Taylor had made a great reputation in the war with Mexico, where, 
by winning a series of victories from Mexican generals and against 
enormous odds, his soldiers had bestowed upon him the name "Old 
Rough and Ready." He was a Whig in politics, was a slaveholder, 
but had not voted for fortj'^ years, owing to the fact that he had for 
all that time been an officer in the United States army. Mr. Clay 
was eager to be made the candidate of his party again, but the Whigs 
nominated General Taylor for President and Millard Fillmore for 
Vice President, and declined to make a platform for their candi- 
dates. They thus sought to avoid taking sides with either the 
anti-slavery men of the North, or the pro-slavery Whigs of the 
South. When sneered at by the Democrats for failure to promul- 
gate a platform of principles, the Whigs would declare: "The 
Whig platform is well known and immutable. It is the broad 
platform of the Constitution, with the acknowledged right of the 
people to do or to demand anything authorized by that instrument, 
and denying the powers of our rulers to do anything in violation 
of its provisions." With this exalted declaration, the Whigs prose- 
cuted with much vigor what they called a "Star and .Stripe" canvass. 
The Democratic party at the North, especially in New York, had 
become seriously disorganized by factional fights. Mr. Van Buren 
remained sore and resentful toward the Southern Democrats for 
procuring his defeat for the nomination in 1844<. The party in 
New York had been divided into two bitterly hostile factions. 
One faction bore the name "Hunkers," were adherents of President 
Polk, and were led by William L. Marcy, then Secretary of War. 
The other was called "Barnburners," were followers of Mr. Van 
Buren, and were under the leadership of Governor Silas Wright. 
In fact, the Hunkers represented the pro-slavery wiiig, iaind the 
Barnbui'ners the anti-slavery wing of the Democratic party ; and 
were products of the quarrel provoked by the annexation o:f "Texas. 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 575 

When the National Convention of the party met at Baltimore the 
State of New York had two full delegations present, one composed 
of Hunkers and the other of Barnburners, each delegation claiming 
the right to sit in the convention to the exclusion of the other. The 
National Convention attempted to heal the breach in the party 
by the usual method of admitting both delegations, with power to 
jointly cast the vote of the State. But the Barnburners would not 
accede to the compromise and left the convention. The Hunkers 
wisely concluded that it would be expedient for them to take no 
part in the proceedings, and refrained from casting the vote of 
New York State. The convention nominated General Lewis Cass, 
of Michigan, for President, and William O. Butler, of Kentucky, 
for Vice President. On the 22nd of June, 1848, the Barnburners 
held a National Convention at Utica, New York, and nominated 
Martin Van Buren for the Presidency, and Charles Francis Adams, 
of Massachusetts, for the Vice Presidency. This Free-soil move- 
ment forced the slavery question into the campaign, regardless of 
the wishes of both Whigs and Democrats to keep it out. The Whigs 
again won the Presidency with a hero candidate, but their victory 
was the forerunner of an early dissolution of Henry Clay's great 
party. 

The war with Mexico had been brought to a successful con- 
clusion by the Americans; and on the 2nd of February, 184-8, a 
treaty of peace had been negotiated between the United States and 
the Republic of Mexico. By this treaty the extensive territory 
then known as New Mexico and Upper California was ceded to the 
United States; and it precipitated a struggle between the anti- 
slavery and pro-slavery advocates for control of the new territory. 
Previous to the making of the treaty an animated controversy, involv- 
ing the slavery question, had been going on in Congress over the 
territorial organization of Oregon. The leaders of both National 
parties were anxious to eliminate the slavery question from the 
approaching Presidential campaign; and they thought this could be 
done by a compromise measure. Accordingly the matter was 
referred to a committee of eight members of the United States 
Senate, which committee was representative of every sectional 
interest involved. A Compromise bill was finally adopted and 
signed by the President on the 12th of August, 1848. The bill 



576 History of Tazewell County 

provided that the Legislature of Oregon Territory should enact 
laws in conformity with the wishes of the people on the question of 
slavery. As its people had already pronounced against the intro- 
duction of slavery, Oregon, necessarily, became a free Territory. 
As to New Mexico and California, the bill gave to the governors 
and judges of those two Territories the power to make such legis- 
lation as was needed for their temporary government; but restrain- 
ing them from passing any laws on the subject of slavery; and 
vesting authority in the Supreme Court to determine, if called upon 
to do so, whether slaveholders could settle in either of the Terri- 
tories with their slaves while the temporary governments were in 
existence. 

When this compromise measure was adopted no one anticipated 
that California would soon be seeking admission to the Union as a 
full-fledged State. On January 19th, 1848, gold was discovered in 
such quantities at Sutter's Mill, near Coloma, that emigration to 
California on a large scale quickly ensued. Most of the gold- 
seekers arrived in the early part of 1849, and by the end of that 
year the population of the Territory exceeded 100,000. The people 
held a convention on the 3rd of September and framed a constitu- 
tion, in which there was a provision that prohibited slavery in the 
State. A State government was organized, and a petition was sent 
to Congress asking that California be admitted to the Union. 

President Taylor in his first message to Congress, when it con- 
vened in December, 1849, recommended that California, with her 
anti-slavery constitution, be promptly admitted to the Union. He 
also made recommendations with regard to New Mexico that were 
obnoxious to the pro-slavery people of the South. His message 
provoked intense anger at the South, but largely increased his 
popularity at the North. As a sequence, the situation on the slavery 
question became more alarming to the statesmen who wished to 
preserve the Union. 

Mr. Clay, having failed in 1848 to secure a second nomination 
for the Presidency from the Whigs, had been sent again by his 
Kentucky friends to the United States Senate. Though grievously 
disappointed in his Presidential aspirations, the grand old states- 
man was eager to procure "an amicable arrangement of all questions 
in controversy between the free and slave States growing out of the 



and Southwest Virginia 577 

subjfc't of slavery." He souglil to aeeompli.sh his lofty purpose 
by introducing a series of resolutions, setting forth the measures 
he believed would terminate the sectional animosities that were 
being aroused by the prolonged agitation of the slavery question. 
The resolutions were referred to a committee of thirteen, of which 
Mr. Clay was made chairman. After duly considering the several 
resolutions, the committee incorporated them in a single bill, which 
was named the "Omnibus Bill." The Administration was firmly 
opposed to Mr. Clay's compromise scheme, as it contravened some 
of the most important recommendations President Taylor had made 
in his message to Congress. A prolonged and acrimonious debate 
followed the introduction of the Omnibus Bill, that was not ended 
until President Taylor's death, which came suddenly on the 9th 
of July, 1850. 

Mr. Fillmore, who had been elevated to the Presidency by the 
death of President Taylor, was in full sympathy with Mr. Clay's 
measures of Compromise; but the friends of the deceased President 
antagonized the Omnibus Bill so vigorously that it could not be 
passed in its entirety. Mr. Clay and his associates then resorted 
to the use of separate bills to secure the passage of their Com- 
promise measures. A bill was passed for the organization of the 
Territory of Utah, and that placed freedom and slavery upon the 
same plane in that Territory. Other separate bills were then 
passed, providing for the admission of California; for the organiza- 
tion of New Mexico; for adjustment of the disputed Texas bound- 
ary; for the more effective recovery of fugitive slaves; and for 
abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia. 

The leaders of both political parties, with a few exceptions, 
were well satisfied with the Compromise, and expressed confident 
belief that the slavery question had been effectually adjusted. But 
a few prominent Whigs at the North, led by William H. Seward. 
Benjamin Wade, and otiicrs. had persistently opposed the Com- 
promise measures. Subsequently they organized a revolt in their 
jiarty at the North against President Fillmore's administration that 
brought crushing defeat to the Whigs in the next Presidental elec- 
tion. On the other hand, the Democrats of all sections of the Union 
became compactly iiiiiUd in support of the Compromise; and the 
Southern Whigs were equally earnest in its support. 

T.H.— 37 



578 History of Tazewell County 

The Democrats assembled in a National Convention at Balti- 
more on June Ist^ 1852;, to nominate a Presidential ticket. There 
were three candidates for the Democratic nomination for Presi- 
dent — General Lewis Cass of Michigan; James Buchanan of Penn- 
sylvania; and William L. Marcy of New York. Forty-eight bal- 
lots were taken without either of the candidates getting two-thirds 
of the delegates that was necessary to secure the nomination. 
Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, who had been given scattering- 
votes during the balloting, was unanimously nominated for Presi- 
dent on the forty-ninth ballot; and William R. King, of Alabama, 
was nominated for Vice President. The Democrats took a very 
bold position on the slavery question. In their platform, which 
was unanimously adopted by the convention, it was resolved that 
"all efforts of the Abolitionists or others to induce Congress to 
interfere with the question of slavery or to take incipient steps in 
relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and 
dangerous consequences." It was then defiantly declared that "the 
Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing, in Congress 
or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever 
shape or color the attempts may be made." All the Compromise 
measures that had been passed by Congress were enthusiastically 
endorsed, the fugitive-slave law being given special significance in 
the platform. 

Two weeks later the Whigs held their National Convention at 
Baltimore ; and they were as sharply divided on the slavery question 
as the Democrats were closely united thereon. There were but 
three names placed before the convention as candidates for the 
Presidential nomination. They were. President Fillmore, General 
Winfield Scott, and Daniel Webster. The first ballot showed that 
the Southern Whigs were solidly for Fillmore, with the exception 
of one vote from Virginia; and that the Northern Whigs were for 
General Scott, except twenty-nine that voted for Mr. Webster. 
A long and bitter contest was waged by the friends of the rival 
candidates, but General Scott was nominated on the fifty-third 
ballot. The ticket was eomj^leted by nominating William A. 
Graham, of North Carolina, for Vice President. 

The Whigs had again selected a military hero for their candi- 
date; and they were, in the first stages of tlie campaign, very hope- 
ful of winning the Presidency. But personal enmities among the 



and Southwest Virginia 579 

leaders and widely divergent views on the slavery question brought 
humiliating defeat to the Whig candidates. The Whigs carried but 
four States of the Union — Massachusetts and Vermont in the North, 
and Kentucky and Tennessee in the South. Of the 296 electors 
in the electoral college, P'ranklin Pierce got the votes of 254 and 
General Scott only 42. Both the great Whig leaders, Clay and 
Webster, had died while the campaign was in progress; Mr. Clay 
a few days after Scott's nomination, and Mr. Webster a few days 
before the election. The Whig party never rallied from this disas- 
trous defeat, but began to disintegrate, and soon ceased to be a 
vital element in national politics. 

Elated with the wonderful victory they gained over their now 
prostrate rival, the Democrats thought they had secured a lease of 
power that would last for many years. But there was one portent- 
ous incident of the Presidential election which failed to impress 
the Democrats with the imminent danger that awaited them. The 
Free-Soilers had again presented a Presidential candidate in the 
person of John Parker Hale of New Hampshire. He received 
157,685 votes, nearly 100,000 more than Birney, the Free-Soil 
candidate, got in 1844. 

By his inaugural address, on the 4th of March, 1853, President 
Pierce placed his administration squarely upon the principles and 
policies announced in the platform made at Baltimore by his party. 
He had no sympathy with the politicians who contemplated a dis- 
solution of the Union, and said: "Do my countrymen need any 
assurance that such a catastrophe is not to overtake them while 
I possess the power to stay it." Of the slavery question, which 
then threatened to break up the Union, he said: 

"I believe that involuntary servitude, as it exists in the dif- 
ferent States of this Confederacy, is recognized by the Constitu- 
tion. I believe that it stands like any other admitted right, and 
that the States where it exists are entitled to efficient remedies to 
enforce the constitutional provisions. I hold that the laws of 1850, 
commonly called the 'compromise measures,' are strictly constitu- 
tional and to be unhesitatingly carried into effect. I believe that 
the constituted authorities of this Republic are bound to regard 
the rights of the South in this respect as they would view any other 
legal and constitutional right, and that the laws to enforce them 
should be respected and obeyed, not with a reluctance encouraged 



580 History of Tazewell County 

by abstract opinions as to their propriety in a different state of 
society, but cheerfully and aceordinsi; to the decisions of the tri- 
bunal to which the exposition belongs." 

The views expressed by President Pierce in his inaugural address 
gave complete satisfaction to the [)eoplc and political leaders of 
all sections^ except the rank Abolitionists in the North and the 
extreme pro-slavery men in the South. The latter seemed resolved 
to tear down the barriers that prevented the introduction of slavery 
into the new Territories, or to break up the Union. The country 
continued at repose from the inauguratioTi of President Pierce 
until Congress convened in the session of 1853-5i. when a bill 
was introduced for the organization of the Territory of Nebraska. 
Archibald Dixon, of Kentucky, had been sent from that State as 
tlie successor of Mr. Clay in the United States Senate. Early in 
January, 1854-, Mr. Dixon gave notice that wlien the bill to organize 
the Territory of Nebraska came to the Senate lie would move, that 
"the Missouri Compromise be repealed and that the citizens of the 
several States shall be at liberty to take and hold their slaves 
within any of the Territories." 

This unfortunate movement of Mr. Dixon for a repeal of the 
Missouri Compromise and the Compromise measures of 1850. for 
which his illustrious predecessor. Mr. Clay, had labored so 
earnestly, was premeditated, and was backed by the extreme pro- 
slavery men from the South, including .Jefferson Davis, Robert 
Toombs and Judali P. Benjamin. It gave increased momentum lo 
the already infuriated Aboliticmist sentiment in the North, and 
accelerated the growing spirit of Disunion in the South. Stephen 
A. Douglas was then looming up as an aspirant for the Democratic 
nomination for President in 1856. He realized that the repeal 
of the Missouri Compromise for the purposes assigned by Mr. 
Dixon, "that the citizens of the several States shall be at liberty 
to take and hold their slaves within any of the Territories" — would 
disrupt the Democratic party in the free States. To obviate the 
threatened danger to his party. Mr. Douglas rejjorted a bill in the 
Senate which provided for organizing two new Territories, Kansas 
and Nebraska. In one section of the bill it was declared that the 
Missouri Compromise of 1820 was inoperati^■e and void, because 
"it was inconsistent with the princijjle of non-intervention by Con- 
gress with slavery in the States and Territories as recognized by 



and Southwest Virginia 581 

the Compromise of 1850." Tlie bill of Mr. Douglas further declared 
that "its true intent and meaning was not to legislate slavery into 
any Territory or State, and not to exclude it therefrom, but to 
leave the ))eople jierfectly free to regulate their domestic institutions 
in their own way." This was nothing more than a reutterance of 
the Democratic doctrines of "Pojiular Sovereignty. " and "States 
Rights." 

A stormy debate, which was continued in Congress for four 
months, followed the introduction of the Douglas bill; but it was 
finally passed by the Democrats, who were assisted by the Southern 
Whigs. The measure proved to be the "Death Warrant," for the 
Presidential aspirations of Mr. Douglas. A bitter and bloody strug- 
gle was begun between the pro-slavery and anti-slaverj' men for the 
organization and control of Kansas Territory. In May, 185i, 
emigrants from Missouri and Arkansas commenced to move into 
Kansas. They held a pro-slavery convention on the 10th of June, 
1854, and announced that slavery alreadv existed in the Territory. 
This caused the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society, and other 
Abolitionist organizations in New P'ngland, to send out colonies; and 
they established settlements at Topeka, Ossawatomie and at other 
points. For a ))eriod of five years the inhabitants of the Territory 
engaged in blootly strife over the slavery question. Repeated 
efforts were made by the rival factions to set up a territorial govern- 
ment. On November 2yth. 1851'. an election was held to choose a 
delegate to re])resent the Territory in Congress. Armed bodies of 
men from Missouri took possession of the polls, and of the 2, bio 
votes cast. 1.729 were proved to be illegal. The pro-slavery and 
the antirslavcry men, each, elected legislatures and held constitu- 
lional conventions ; and many bloody conflicts were engaged in. One 
of the events of the year I85(i was the brutal murder of pro-slavery 
men by a party of fanatical Abolitionists led by John Brown, who 
was afterwards himg by the Virginia authorities for raising an 
insurrection at Harper's Ferry. Finally, the Free-Soilers won, and 
on January 29th. 18(51, Kansas was admitted to the Union as a 
free State. 

While the disorders in Kansas were at their highest pitch, and 
a few days before the Democrats nominated their Naticmal ticket, 
an incident occurred in the National Capitol that stirred to frenzy 
the Abolitionists of the North. Charles Sumner, a Senator from 



582 History of Tazewell County 

Massachusetts, delivered a rancorous speech in the Senate on what 
he styled the "Crime against Kansas" that greatly incensed the 
Southern members of Congress. The speech was violently resented 
by Preston S. Brooks, a hot-lieaded member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives from South Carolina. On May 26th, 1856, he assaulted 
Senator Sumner, striking him over the head with a heavy cane while 
he was sitting in his chair in the Senate Chamber. Mr. Sumner 
was so severely injured that he had to go abroad for medical treat- 
ment, and did not resume his seat in the Senate until 1859. A 
resolution was introduced in the House for the expulsion of Brooks, 
and the committee to which it was referred recommended that he 
be expelled. Brooks resigned, and was immediately re-elected by 
his constitutents. When the resolution to expel him was being 
considered in the House, Brooks declared that "a blow struck by 
him then would be followed by a revolution." This incident greatly 
accelerated the Abolition movement that had already attained dan- 
gerous proportions at the North. 

On the 1st of June, five days after the Brooks-Sumner affair 
occurred, the Democrats held their National Convention at Balti- 
more. They nominated James Buchanan for President, and John 
C. Breckinridge for Vice President. In their platform they endorsed 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and upheld the "right of 
the people of all the Territories to form a constitution witli or 
without slavery." 

The newly formed Republican party, which had been organizing 
and consolidating its forces during 1854 and 1855, had met in 
National Convention previous to the Democrats. They nominated 
John C. Fremont, of California, for President, and William L. 
Dayton, of New Jersey, for Vice President. In making their plat- 
form the Republicans declared that it was "both the right and the 
imperative duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those 
twin relics of barbarism — polygamy and slavery." The Whigs 
had nominated Millard Fillmore for the Presidency, and selected 
Andrew Jackson Donelson, of Tennessee, as their candidate for the 
Vice Presidency. They made no declarations in their platform 
on the slavery question. By this avoidance of the most vital issue 
in American politics, the Whigs made but little showing at the 
election. Buchanan received the electoral votes of every Southern 
State except Maryland, which gave its vote to Fillmore. Of the 



and Southwest Virginia 583 

Northern States, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois and 
California voted for Buchanan. In the aggregate he received 174 
electoral votes. Fremont received the votes of the other eleven 
free States. The Republicans had developed great strength and 
spirit in their first National encounter with the Democratic foe. 
Then began the movement to array a solid North against a solid 
South. 

After the inauguration of President Buchanan, the Democrats 
had control of every department of the Federal Government; and 
steps were promptly taken by the extreme men at the South to 
introduce slavery into Kansas and such other new Territories as 
should be organized. An event then happened which gave oppor- 
tunity for the enforcement of this policy. Very soon after President 
Buchanan was inaugurated the Supreme Court of the United States 
rendered its decision in the famous Dred Scott case. Dred Scott 
was a Missouri slave, whose master in 1834 took him to Illinois, a 
State which prohibited slaver^" within its bounds. Scott married in 
Illinois, where he remained, with his master's consent, until 1838. 
Then he was taken to Minnesota Territory, where slavery had been 
prohibited by the Missouri Compromise. Later, his master brought 
Scott to Missouri, where the master asserted his right to treat him 
as a slave, and whipped him for some offense. Scott brought a 
suit for damages against his master, claiming that his residence in 
Illinois and Minnesota had made him a free man. The master 
denied that Scott had any right to sue, as he was descended from 
slave ancestors and had himself never been set free. Scott won in 
the Missouri court, but his master appealed the case to the Supreme 
Court of the United States. This high tribunal in 1857 reversed 
the decision of the Missouri court, holding that negro slaves were 
chattels, mere things, "who had no rights and privileges but such 
as those who held the power and the government might grant them." 
The court also declared that Scott's residence in Minnesota and 
Illinois could not confer freedom upon him, bo'ause the act of 
1820 (the Missouri Compromise) was unconstitutional and void. 
The Supreme Court also decided that Congress had no more right 
to prohibit the carrying of slaves into any State and Territory than 
it had to prohibit the carrying thither of horses or any ether 
property, holding that slaves were property whose secure possession 
was granted by the Constitution. The opinion of the Supreme 



584 



History of Tazewell County 



Court was in lianiiony willi tlic \ ic-ws of I'n'sident Picrc-c as 
expressed in iiis inani>ural address on the Itli of Marel). 185.S. 

Tliroughoiit the years 1858 and ]ro9 there was a hitter stru<>;- 
gle, sonietinuvs altencU'd witii bloodshed, between tlie ))ro-sIavery 
and anti-slavery men for the possession of Kansas. In this nionien- 
tous struggle Ste))lien \. Douglas separated himself from the 
Southern Demoeraey and llurel)y disrupted the Demoeratie ))arty. 



and Southwell, Virginia 585 



CHAPTKR J I. 

TlIK HAKPEU'S KKRllV INSUHRECTION. 

TJie most significant and appalling event that occurred during 
the prolonged agitation df the slavery question was the insurrection 
led hv John Brown at HariJer's Ferry in October, 1859. 

John Brown, son of Owen Brown, a New England fanatic, was 
horn at Torrington. Connecticut, May 9th, 1800. When he was 
five years old his father moved to Ohio. After he attained manhood 
he met with business failures in Ohio, ]\Iassachusetts and Con- 
necticut. In 1855 he moved from Connecticut to Kansas, no doubt 
at the instance of the ^Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society. He 
became a leading spirit among the Abolitionists who were struggling 
to prevent the introduction of slavery into Kansas; and was engaged 
in a number of lawless enterprises against the slaveholders. Brown 
assumed the role of a religious enthusiast, was a rigid Presbyterian, 
and pretended to believe he was called of God to give freedom to 
the Africans held in slavery at the South. 

As early as 1857, Brown began to formulate secret plans to 
in\adc Virginia for the avowed purpose of liberating slaves. His 
scheme was to make the line of the mountains which cut diagonally 
through Maryland and Virginia, down through these States into 
Tennessee and Alabama, the base of his operations. These plans 
were formed with associate conspirators in Kansas, Iowa, Canada, 
Ohio, New England and other places. In 1858 he and his two 
sons, Oliver and Watson, went to Harper's Ferry, then in Jefferson 
County, Virginia, now West Virginia, where, under the assumed 
name of Smith, they pretended to be prospectors hunting for ores. 
They stayed thereabout several months and then disappeared. 
After an absence of several months. John Brown returned to the 
vicinity and rented a farm in Maryland about four miles from 
the Ferry. He and his sons made frequent visits to Harper's Ferry, 
where the old man still appeai-ed as "Bill Smith." The invading 
force, which was composed of John Brown, three sons, and thirteen 
other white men. and five negroes, was assembled at the rented 
farm. And large quantities of arms, ammunition, clothing aiul other 



586 History of Tazewell County 

supplies^ purchased with money supplied by Northern Abolitionists, 
were deposited at the farm. 

About 10:30 o'clock Sunday night, October 16th, 1859, John 
Brown, his three sons, Oliver, Watson and Owen, and thirteen other 
white men, and five negroes crossed the Potomac on the railroad 
bridge and took violent possession of Harper's Ferry. A small 
party of the desperadoes was sent into the adjacent country to 
arx'est slaveholders, and take possession of slaves. They arrested 
Colonel Lewis Washington and twelve of his slaves ; then arrested 
a Mr. AUstadt and his sixteen-year-old son, and forced all their 
negroes they could find to go with them. The prisoners were taken 
to the Ferry and confined in the engine hoiise of the United States 
Arsenal, Brown and his band having taken possession of that build- 
ing. In the morning, when the people came from their houses they 
found the town in complete possession of the insurrectionists. A 
number of men in the employ of the U. S. Government at the 
Arsenal, on going to their work, were arrested and confined in the 
Armory. 

Alarms were sent to Charlestown, the county seat of Jefferson 
County, and to other nearby towns, calling for assistance ; and 
companies of the volunteer militia were quickly dispatched to aid 
the citizens of Harper's Ferry. The "Jefferson Guard" from 
Charlestown arrived upon the scene at 1 1 :30 A. M. ; and during 
the day troops from Shepherdstown, Martinsburg and other points 
came in. They took possession of the railroad bridge, and occupied 
houses that commanded the front, rear and sides of the Armory, 
where Brown and his men had congregated after leaving a small 
squad in charge of the railroad bridge. Before the arrival of the 
troops a negro man had been killed by the insurgents, because the 
negro refused to join them. They had also killed Joseph Boerly, 
a citizen, while standing unarmed in his door; and had shot and 
killed Samuel P. Young, a citizen from the country, who was riding 
in to give assistance to the people of the town. Wliile desultory 
shots were being exchanged between the soldiers and the insurrec- 
tionists, Fontaine Beckham, mayor of the town, was shot by one 
of Brown's sons and died almost instantly. The troops had cap- 
tured William Thompson when the bridge was taken from the 
insurgents, and the indignant ])opulace demanded that he should 
be immediately executed, because of Beckham's death. Thompson 



and Southwest Virginia 587 

was taken out on the bridge and shot to death, his body being rid- 
dled with balls. 

By directions of Captain Brown, a squad of insurrectionists had 
taken possession of Hall's rifle works. They were dislodged by the 
soldiers and one of the squad killed. Earlier in the day the Mar- 
tinsburg men, who were mostly railroad employees, ti'ied to force 
their way into the Armory to rescue the prisoners. In the charge 
Conductor Evans Dorsey, of Baltimore, was instantly killed, and 
Conductor George Richardson received a wound from which he 
died during the day. Colonel Robert W. Baylor, who was "Colonel 
Commandant" of the military forces, in his report to Governor 
Henry A. Wise of the operations of the day said: "During this 
engagement and the previous skirmishes, we had ten men wounded, 
two I fear mortally. The insurgents had eleven killed, one mortally 
wounded, and two taken px-isoners, leaving only five in the engine 
house, and one of them seriously wounded." Night came on and 
operations ceased, but a strong guard was placed around the Ai'mory 
to prevent the escape of any of the desperadoes. 

At 11 o'clock that night a train arrived at Sandy Hook on the 
Maryland side of the Potomac. The train brought a military com- 
pany from Baltimore, and eighty-five U. S. Marines sent from 
Washington by the War Department. General John B. Floyd was 
then Secretary of War, and he had selected Colonel Robert E. Lee 
to command the marines; and Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart, of the 1st 
U. S. Cavalry, was Colonel Lee's aid. Colonel Lee promptly 
marched the marines across the river and stationed them within the 
Armory grounds, so as to completely surround the engine house. 
Late on Monday, Brown had sent a written message to Colonel 
Baylor proposing to yield, if he was permitted to cross the Potomac 
bridge with his men and all their arms and ammunition, and to take 
along his prisoners who would be released as soon as they got a 
little beyond the river. This proposition was rejected promptly 
by Colonel Baylor. It was agreed between Colonel Lee and Colonel 
Baylor that at daybreak "the volunteer forces should form around 
the outside of the government property and clear the streets of 
citizens and spectators, to prevent them from firing random shots, 
to the great danger of our soldiers, and to remain in that position 
whilst he would attack the engine house with his marines." 

At early dawn the troops were drawn up in accordance with the 



588 History of Tazewell County 

above arrangement. Lieulenant Stuart then advaneed to the engine 
house and. in a parley with l^rown, demanded an uneonditional 
surrender, lirown refused to surrender on any terms, exeept those 
he had ])resented to Colonel IJaylor the day pre\ious. Colonel 
Bayh)r in his report to Governor Wise says: "The marines were 
then or(h'red to force the doors. Tlie attempt was made witli lieaxy 
sledge liamuiers. l)ul proved ineH'eetual. 'I'h<'y were then orch'rcd to 
attack the doors with a hea\ y huUhr which was lying a short dis- 
tance ofi'. After two ))owerful ert'orts the door was shattered suffi- 
ciently to obtain an entrance. Immediately a heavy volley was 
fired in by the marines, and an entrance eft'ected which soon tei'mi- 
nated the conflict. In this engagement, the marines had one killed 
and one slightly wounded. The insurgents had two killed and 
three taken prisoners. After the firing ceased, the inprisoned 
citizens walked out unhurt." 

At about noon on the same day the Independent Grays, of Bal- 
timore, were dispatched to Brown's house across the river to search 
for arms and ammunition. They returned at six o'clock and brought 
with them what had been found secreted by tlie insurgents. There 
were two hundred Sharpe's rifles, two hundred revolvers, twenty- 
three thousand percussion caps, one hundred thousand percussion 
pistol caps, ten kegs of gunpowder, thirteen thousand ball cart- 
ridges for Sharpe's rifles, one Major General's sword, fifteen hun- 
dred pikes, and a large assortment of blankets, shoes and clothing 
of every description. They also discovered a carpet bag, containing 
documents throwing much light on the conspiracy, printed consti- 
tutions and by-laws of an organization, showing or indicating 
ramifications in various States of the Union. They also found 
letters from various individuals at the Nortli — one from Fred 
Douglas, containing ten dollars from a lady for the cause; also 
a letter from Gerrit Smith, about money matters, and a check or 
draft by him for $100, endorsed by a cashier of a New York bank. 
All these were turned over to (jovernor \^'ise. 

(jrovernor Wise, who had arrived on Tuesday, went with Colonel 
Lee and others to liave an interview with Brown. The Governor 
said "he was sorry to see a man of his age in that position. " Hrown 
defiantly replied. "I ask no sympathy and have no apologies to 
make." Then, the Governor asked him if he did not think he had 
done wrong, and he replied. No." And he declared, that though 



and Southwest Virginia 589 

he had but twenty-two men with him on the raid, he expected large 
reinforcements from Maryland. Virginia, North and South Carolina, 
and the New England States and New York. This was an admission 
that the conspiracy was much more extensive than Brown later 
claimed it to be; and tliat he and liis associates expected to excite 
a wide-spread insurrection among the slaves at the South. 

On Wednesday, the 19th of October, United States Senator 
James M. Mason, of Virginia, and Congressman C. L. Vallanding- 
ham, of Ohio, sought and obtained an interview with Captain Brown. 
The object of the interviewers was to pei'suade him to disclose the 
names of the prominent Abolitionists who were connected with the 
conspiracy and had lielped to finance the enterprise. A reporter 
of the New York Herald was present and made a stenograpliir 
report of the questions propounded and the answers given by 
Brown. He either refused to answer or evaded all questions tliat 
would accomplish the purpose of Mason and Vallandingham. But 
he lost no opportunity to magnify his own importance as a Great 
Deliverer, Philanthropist, and exponent of the Golden Rule; and 
lie tried to justify his many criminal acts during the years he had 
been engaged in outlawry. Shortly after this interview the prison- 
ers — Jolni Brown, Aaron C. Stephens, Edwin Coppie, Shields 
Green and John Coi)eland — were placed in the custody of the 
sherifl' of Jelterson County and lodged in the county jail at Charles- 
lown. 

On the 20th of the month a mittinuis was issued by Rodger 
Chew, a justice of the peace, directing the sherifl" to deliver the 
bodies of the prisoners to the county jailer for safe keeping. And 
on the 26th a grand jury brought in an mciictment against John 
Brown, Aaron C. Stephens, alias Aaron U. Stephens, and Edwin 
Coppie, white men. and Shields Green and John Copeland. free 
negroes. The prisoners were indicted: "For conspiring with 
negroes to produce an insurrection ; for treason in the Common- 
wealth ; and for murder." 

The prisoners were brought into court under an armed guard, 
and upon their arraignment each prisoner plead, "Not Guilty." 
Then the prosecuting attorney announced that, "The State elects to 
try John Brown first." Thereupon, Brown asked for delay in his 
trial for various reasons, chiefly because of his physical condition 
and absence of counsel he wasexpecting to be sent by his sympath- 



590 History of Tazewell County 

izers at the North ; but the court, for sufficient cause, refused to 
grant the request, and the trial was begun. 

The first day was occupied in selecting a jury. When Brown 
was brought into court the second day, Mr. Botts, of his counsel, 
informed the court that friends had tried to persuade the accused 
to put in a plea of insanity, but that he disdained to put in the plea. 
Brown then said: "I will add, if the court will allow me, that I 
look upon it as a miserable artifice and pretext of those who ought 
to take a different course in regard to me, if they took any at all, 
and I view it with contempt more than otherwise. I am perfectly 
unconscious of insanity, and I reject, so far as I am capable, any 
attempt to interfere in my behalf on that score." 

This act of the prisoner made it impossible for his counsel to 
make any reasonable defense for their client. He made no denial 
that he had committed the oft'enses charged in the indictment, and 
persisted in claiming that what he had done with his organized band 
of outlaws was righteous in the sight of God. The jury could not 
do otherwise than bring in a verdict of guilty on all of the three 
charges laid in the indictment, and the verdict was : "Guilty of • 
treason, and conspii'ing and advising with slaves and others to 
rebel, and murder in the first degree." Before sentence was pro- 
nounced by Judge Richard Parker, the presiding judge, Brown 
was asked by the clerk if he had anything to say. The condemned 
man arose and addressed the court in a clear voice. He undertook 
to justify the criminal conduct of himself and companions, and 
denied having any sense of guilt; and he said: "I feel entirely 
satisfied with the treatment I liave received on my trial. Consider- 
ing all the circumstances, it has been more generous than I 
expected." When Brown concluded. Judge Parker declared that 
no reasonable doubt could exist of the guilt of the prisoner and 
sentenced him to be hung in public, on Friday, the 2nd of December, 
1859. The sentence was executed and John Brown expiated his 
many crimes on the appointed day. 

The other prisoners were tried in succession, and they shared 

the same fate that befell their desperate leader. Below is a record 

of what befell John Brown and his "Men-at-Arms," as they were 

named by one of Brown's admiring biographers: 

. General John Brown — Executed at Charleston, Dec. 2nd, 1859. 

Captain John E. Cook — Escaped, but was captured at Cham- 



\ 



and Southwest Virginia 591 

bersburg, Pennsylvania^ Oct. 25th, was tried, found guilty, sen- 
tenced Nov. 2nd, and executed Dec. Kith, 18 59. 

Lieutenant Edrcin Coppie — Tried immediately after John 
Brown, found guilty, and executed Dec. 16th, 1859. 

Captain Aaron C. Stephens — Trial postponed until spring term 
on account of his severe wounds. Tried, convicted, and executed 
March Kith, 1860. 

Lieutenant Albert Hazlett — Escaped from Harper's Ferry, was 
captured at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, October 22nd, extradited to 
Virginia, tried and sentenced at spring term, and executed March 
16th, 1860. 

Lieutenant William H. Leeman — Killed at Harper's Ferrj'. 
Captain Oliver Broxvn — Killed at Harper's Ferry. 
Captain Watson Brown — Killed at Harper's Ferry. 
Captain John Kagi — Killed at Harper's Ferry. 
Lieutenant Jeremiah Anderson — Killed at Harper's Ferry. 
Stewart Taylor — Killed at Harper's P'erry. 
William Thompson — Killed at Harper's Ferry. 
Dauphin 0. Thompson — Killed at Harper's Ferry. 
Charles P. Tidd— -Made his escape. Died at Roanoke Island 
from fever while the battle was going on at that place, Feb. 8th, 
1862. He was a soldier in the Federal Army. 

Francis J . Merriam — Escaped, and died in New York City, Nov. 
28th, 1865. 

Owen Broxvn — son of John — escaped, and died in California, 
Jan. 9th, 1891. He was the last of the five who escaped to die. 

Barclay Coppie — Escaped and was killed in a railroad accident 
in Kansas, Sept. 3rd, 1861, was then a Lieutenant in a Kansas 
regiment. 

John A. Copeland — (Free Negro) — was tried, found guilty, 
and executed at Charlestown, December 16th, 1859. 

Shields Green — (Escaped slave from South Carolina) — was 
executed at Charlestown, Dec. 16th, 1859. 

Lewis L. Leary — (Free negro) — died from wounds at Harper's 
Ferry. 

Oscar P. Anderson — (Free negro) — escaped, and died from con- 
sumption at Washington, D. C, Dec. 13th, 1872. 

Dangerfield Newhy — (Free negro) — killed at Harper's Ferry. 
The prompt action of the Virginia authorities in trying and 



592 



History of Tazewell County 



tli.si)().sing' of Joiin Hro-.vii atul liis professional oiillaw associates 
was bitterly denounced by the Abolitionists as merciless and unjust. 
They were so blinded by fanaticism tliat tliey did not realize the 
enormity of Brown's lawless deeds; and they claimed that the 
incident was magnified in importance by the Southern people 
through fear of future similar occurrences. Governor Wise and 
the Virginians were actuated by no vague fear of other similar 
insurrections; but were resolved to show the people of the North 
how the South would meet and repel the mightier attack upon 
Southern institutions that was foreshadowed by the insurrection at 
Harper's Ferry- -the attack that came about eighteen months later. 



and Southwest Virginia 593 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PllESlDENTIAL EI-ECTION OF 1860. 

Agitation of the slavery question was foreshadowed by the 
admission of Louisana to the Union in 1812; and it became a dan- 
gerous issue in American politics when the struggle for the admis- 
sion of Missouri as a slave State began in 1820. For a period of 
forty years the agitation continued and grew in violence until the 
climax came in 18U0. The Presidential election of that year trans- 
formed the militant National Democracy into a disrupted and 
powerless minority party — in which condition it remained for 
twenty-four years — and relegated the scattered remnants of the once 
great Whig party to political oblivion. 

When the Democrats assembled in their National Convention 
at Charleston^ South Carolina, on the 23rd of April, 1860, to nomi- 
nate a Pei'sidential ticket, it was found impossible to reconcile the 
divergent views of the delegates who came from the two sections of 
the Union. The delegates from the free States were enthusiastically 
in favor of the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas, while the dele- 
gates from the slave States were more deeply concerned about the 
position the party should take on the slavery question than they 
were in the choosing of a Presidential candidate. Southern extrem- 
ists, led by Judah P. Benjamin, demanded that there should be 
written into the jjlatform an explicit assertion of the right of citizens 
to settle with their slaves in the Territories; and also make emphatic 
declaration that this right should not "be destroyed or impaired by 
Congressional or Territorial legislation." The extreme pro-slavery 
men also insisted upon a declaration that "it is the duty of the 
Federal Government, when necessary, to protect slavery in the 
Territories, and wherever else its constitutional authority extends." 
These demands were resisted by the delegates from the free States, 
and the Soutiiern men refused to accept any compromise proposi- 
tion made by the Democrats from the North. Seven of the Southern 
States — Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, 
Texas and Arkansas — withdrew from the convention, and organized 

another assemblage, which was presided over by James A. Bayard, 
T.H.— 38 



594 and Southwest Virginia 

of Delaware. The Douglas men then had control of the convention 
but could not muster enough votes to give him the nomination. 
Finding it impossible to make a nomination^ on the 3rd of May the 
convention adjourned to reconvene in Baltimore on the 18th of 
June. 

When the Democratic Convention re-assembled at Baltimore on 
the 18th of June tlie sectional spirit manifested at the Charleston 
gathering had not abated but had become more aggravated. The 
delegates from the Souths with those from California and Oregon, 
and two delegates from Massachusetts — Caleb Cushing and Ben- 
jamin F. Butler — nominated John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, 
for President, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for Vice President. 
The delegates from the North, assisted by a few scattering votes 
from the South, nominated Stephen A. Douglas for President, and 
Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, for Vice President. 

William P. Cecil, of Tazewell County, was one of the delegates 
from the Thirteenth Congressional District of Virginia to the Na- 
tional Democratic Convention; and attended and participated in its 
deliberations both at Charleston and Baltimore. Knowing that the 
people whom lie represented were in sympathy with the men of 
the South, wlio were resolved to maintain their constitutional 
rights, he co-operated with the Southern delegates both at Charles- 
ton and Baltimore, and voted for the nomination of Breckinridge 
and Lane. The Tliirteenth Congressional District was then com- 
posed of the following counties: Smyth, Washington, Lee, Wise, 
Russell, Tazewell, McDowell, Buchanan, Wythe, Grayson, Carroll, 
Pulaski, and Scott. 

During the interval between the adjournment at Charleston and 
the assembling of the Democratic convention at Baltimore, an organ- 
ization which styled itself the "Constitutional-Union Party" lield 
a convention in Baltimore, and nominated John Bell of Tennessee 
for President, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts, for Vice 
President. The new party, which never again appeared in American 
politics, was an aggregation of old Whigs and men from the defunct 
American, or Know Nothing party. They were anxious to pre- 
serve the Union, but upheld the Institution of slavery as a guaran- 
teed constitutional right. 

And, in the interval between the adjournment of the Democratic 
convention at Charleston and its re-assembling at Baltimore, the 



and Southwest Virginia 595 

Republicans had met in National Convention at Chicago. Abraham 
Lincoln was nominated as the candidate of the party for the Presi- 
dency ; and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, was made its candidate for 
Vice President. Mr. Lincoln was opposed to the extension of 
slavery, and favored the enactment of laws to prohibit its extension 
beyond the States where the institution already existed. Mr. Breck- 
inridge advocated the extension of slavery, and was not averse to 
the doctrine of secession. The campaign was conducted upon the 
widely divergent views of Lincoln and Breckenridge on the slavery 
question, and four years of awful civil strife was the fruit it bore. 

As the campaign progressed the rift that divided the Democrats 
of the two sections of the Union was widened, and the ranks of the 
Republicans were constantly augmented by accessions from Northern 
Democrats, who were indignant because of the avowed purpose of 
the Southern leaders to withdraw from the Union, if necessary, to 
extend and perpetuate slavery. It soon became evident that the 
voters of the free States would vote for either Lincoln or Douglas, 
and that the votes of the Southerners would be cast for either 
Breckinridge or Bell. When the election returns were canvassed, it 
was found that Lincoln had carried every free State, and that 
Breckinridge had won in every slave State except four; Virginia, 
Kentucky, and Maryland voting for Bell, and Missouri for Douglas. 
The electoral vote by the colleges stood: 180 for Lincoln and 
Hamlin; 72 for Breckinridge and Lane; 39 for Bell and Everett; 
and 12 for Douglas and Johnson. By a plurality of the popular vote, 
Lincoln carried 18 States; Breckinridge, 11; Bell, 3; and Douglas, 
only 1. Of the entire popular vote Lincoln got 1,857,601 ; Douglas, 
1,291,574; Breckinridge, 850,082; and Bell, 646,124. Thus it will be 
seen that Lincoln lacked 930,170 of a popular majority, and was 
a minority President. The election was purely sectional in chai-- 
acter, as all the States carried by Mr. Lincoln were north of what 
is- known as "Mason and Dixon's Line." 

When the result of the election was announced the Abolitionists 
at the North were greatly elated, especially those who had eulogized 
John Brown and his criminal associates for their conduct at Harper's 
Ferry. The people of the South were thrown into a state of intense 
anger and excitement, and felt that no other course was left them 
but peacable withdrawal from the Union. A political party had 
gained control of the executive branch of the Federal Government 



596 History of Tazewell County 

with the avowed purpose of not only preventing the extension of 
slaverj"^ into the Territories, but of eventually securing, through 
peaceful means, its abolishment from the States of the Union. 

The session of Congress that followed Mr. Lincoln's election 
was stormy and eventful. John C. Crittenden, then a Senator from 
Kentucky, tried to avert, by compromise, the impending catastrophe. 
Early in the session, in December, 1860, he presented in the Senate, 
as the basis for settlement of tlie slavery question, the famous 
Missouri Compromise line 36° 30' as a division of the public domain. 
The proposition of Mr. Crittenden was offered in the form of a 
constitutional amendment. Large numbers of petitions were 
received daily from citizens of the free States urging the adoption 
of the proposition. Jefferson Davis, Robert Toombs, and nearly 
all the extremist Southern Senators, together with Stephen A. 
Douglas and the conservative Senators from the North, were in 
favor of the Crittenden plan for restoring peace and hannony 
between the two sections of the Union. But it was found that no 
Abolitionist, and not a single prominent man of the party that had 
elected Mr. Lincoln, would accept and stand by the proposed plan 
for settlement of the momentous question. Thereupon, nearly all 
the Southern Senators, including Mr. Da^is and Mr. Toombs, 
united in sending a telegram to the people of the South, advising 
them, as a matter of safety, to withdraw from the Union. 

On the niglit of the 14th of November, 1860. Alexander H. 
Stephens, afterwards Vice President of the Confederate States, 
made an address to the Legislature of Georgia and an immense 
audience at Milledgeville. It vis a very conservative and able 
address ; and Mr. Stephens took the position that Georgia ought not 
to secede from the Union because of Mr. Lincoln's election. In 
part, he said: "In my judgment, the election of no man, consti- 
tutionally chosen, to that high office (the President) is sufficient 
cause to justify any State to separate from the Union. We are 
pledged to maintain the Constitution. Many of us liave sworn to 
support it." He urged, that "if the Republic is to go down, * * * 
Let the fanatics of the North break the Constitution, if such is their 
fell purpose." Mr. Stephens also called attention to the fact that 
the opposing parties had control of both Houses of the newly 
elected Congress, which made the Republican President powerless to 
carry into effect any unconstitutional principles of his party. Hear- 



and Southwest Virginia 597 

ing of this speech^ Mr. Lincoln wrote to Mr. Stephens for a copy, 
that he might be more fully informed of its import. On Dec. 22, 
i860, Mr. Lincoln wrote to Mr. Stepliens a private letter, endorsed 
at the head "For your eye only", and, in part, saying: 

"Do the people of the South really entertain fears that a Repub- 
lican administration would, directly or indirectly, interfere with 
the slaves, or with them, about their slaves.'* If they do, I wisli 
to assure 3'ou, as once a friend, and still, I iiope, not an enemy, that 
there is no cause for such fears. The South would be in no more 
danger in this respect, than it was in the days of Washington. 
I suppose, however, this does not meet the case. You think slavery 
is right and ought to be extended, while we think it is wrong and 
ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rule. It certainly 
is the only substantial difference between vis." 

Clearly it was at that time Mr. Lincoln's purpose not to disturb 
slavery in the Southern States, but to prevent its extension beyond 
those States where it already existed. This, however, was not 
satisfactory to the ultra pro-slavery men of the South, who had 
resolved to extend it into the Territories, and to also demand a 
strict enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law. They were also 
demanding that persons committing crimes against slave property 
in one State, and fleeing to another should be delivered up for 
trial in the State where the crime was committed, and that: "A 
person charged in any State with treason, felony, or any other 
crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another State, 
shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which 
he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdic- 
tion of the crime." Executives of certain of the free States had 
refused to deliver up such criminals ; and the Governor of Ohio 
had actually refused to deliver up to the Virginia authorities men 
who were engaged in the Harper's Ferry insurrection. 

Following the advice of Jefferson Davis, Robert Toombs and 
other Southern Senators, South Carolina withdrew from the Union 
by an ordinance of secession, passed by a convention on the 20th 
day of December, 1860. Later on, at short intervals, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Texas passed ordinances 
of secession. In her ordinance, South Carolina liad incorporated an 
invitation to all the Southern States who might secede to join her 
in sending delegates to a Congress to meet on the 4th of February, 



598 History of Tazewell County 

1861, at Montgomery, Alabama. This invitation was accepted by 
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas ; and 
the delegates from those States assembled with the delegates from 
South Carolina at Montgomery on the day fixed in the invitation. 
The Senators and Members in the Federal Congress, of each of the 
seceding States, had resigned their positions, except Mr. Bouligney 
of Louisiana. He occupied his seat until the expiration of his term 
on the 4th of March, 18G1. The delegates or deputies of the 
"Sovereig-n and independent States of South Carolina, Georgia, 
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana," then proceeded to 
ordain and establish a Constitution for the Provisional Government 
of the same. 

On Saturday the 9th of February, 1861, the first Congress of 
the Confederate States of America was organized, the president 
and each member taking the following oath: "You do solemnly 
swear that you will support the Constitution for the Provisional 
Government of the Confederate States of America, so help you God." 

The Congress of the Confederate States of America then pro- 
ceeded to elect a President and Vice President for the Provisional 
Government. The vote being taken by States, Hon. Jefferson Davis 
of Mississippi was unanimously elected President; and Hon. Alex- 
ander Hamilton Stephens of Georgia, was unanimously elected Vice 
President of the Provisional Government. And on the 18th day 
of February, 1861, the inauguration of Jefferson Davis as President 
and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice President of the Confederate 
States of America took place. At an early date President Davis 
announced his cabinet as follows: Secretary of State, Robert 
Toombs, of Georgia ; Secretary of Treasury, Christopher G. Mem- 
minger, of South Carolina; Postmaster General, John H. Reagan, 
of Texas ; Secretary of Navy, Stephen R. Mallory , of Florida ; 
Attorney General, Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana. 



and Southwest Virginia 



599 



CHAPTER IV. 



VIRGINIA HOLDS CONVENTION AND SECEDES FROM UNION. 

In the meantime Governor John Letcher, of Virginia, who was 
as conservative in his opinions on the question of secession as 
Alexander H. Stephens, became greatly disturbed; and he called 
the General Assembly in extra session, to meet on the 7th of 
January, 1861. Uf)on the recommendation of Governor Letcher, 
the General Assembly, on the llth of January, one week after it 
assembled, passed an act which provided for electing members of 
a convention to consider the grave questions that confronted the 
country. This act required a poll to be opened "to take the sense 
of the qualified voters as to whether any action of said convention 
dissolving our connection with the Federal Union or changing the 




Major William P. Cecil, son of Samuel Cecil and uncle of the 
author, was bom on the Clinch, April 9th, 1820, and died on New 
River at the mouth of Walker's Creek, July 12th, 1899. For a number 
of years he was prominent in the affairs of Tazewell County, as a 
lawyer and in an official capacity. He served several terms as Com- 
monwealth's Attorney; was one of the delegates that represented the 
county in the Virginia Secession Convention in 1861; and represented 
the county in the House of Delegates at the sessions of 1874 and 
1875 and 1876 and 1877 — the Legislature then met annually. In the 
Civil War, he was first captain of a company in the 22nd Battalion, 
Virginia Infantry, and was promoted to major of the battalion. 



600 



History of Tazewell County 



organic law of the State, shall be submitted to the people for rati- 
fication or rejection." The election for delegates was held on the 
4th of February, 1861, and the question submitted to the people 
was decided affirmatively by a large majority. One hundred and 
fifty delegates were elected, apportioned among the various counties 
and cities of the State. Tazewell County, and Buchanan and 
McDowell counties that had not been separated from Tazewell by 
legislative apportionment, elected William P. Cecil and Samuel L. 




Judge Samuel Livingston Graham was born September 19th, 1816, 
and died April 12th, 1896. In early life he was clerk of the courts of 
Tazewell County; was a member of the Virginia Secession Convention 
of 1861; captain of a reserve company from Tazewell County, and 
was engaged with his company in the buttle of Salt?ville, Virginia, in 
October, 1864. He wa.s judge of the county court for the counties of 
Buchanan and Wise; and United States Marshal for the Western 
District of Virginia during Mr. Cleveland's first administration. 

Graham as their representatives in what has since been called the 
"Secession Convention." 

When the convention assembled on the 18th of February, it was 
found to be largely composed of the most prominent leaders of the 
Whig and Democratic parties in the State. The author, then a boy 
fourteen years old, w^as living with his parents in Richmond, and 
it was my privilege to witness the opening and organization and 
to frequently attend the deliberations of this splendid Convention 
of Virginians. I have looked upon many legislative and other 



and Southwest Virginia 601 

deliberative bodies; but, in all my experience, I have never seen an 
assembly of men, representing the people, that surpassed this con- 
vention in ability and earnestness of purpose. It was manifest 
that a large majority of the members opposed withdrawal from 
the Union under conditions then existing. 

On the 19th of February, 1861, Hon. John S. Preston, Comr 
missioner from South Carolina, made his famous speech to the 
convention. Mr. Preston was born at the Salt Works, in the present 
Smyth County, Virginia, and was one of three distinguished sons — 
William C, John S. and Thomas L. — of General Francis Preston. 
I sat on a step of the rostrum from which he spoke, and heard him, 
with burning eloquence, make appeal for Virginia to go to the 
assistance of her endangered sister States of the South. Secession 
sentiment was increased by Mr. Preston's speech; and during the 
weeks that followed, until the ordinance was passed, the question 
was debated on the floor of the Convention by great Virginia 
statesmen, ably, earnestly, and sometimes thrillingly. 

On the 4th of March, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated 
President of the United States. In his inaugural address, Mr. 
Lincoln referred to the apprehension that existed "among the 
people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican 
Administration their property and their peace and personal security 
are to be endangered." He gave assurance that "There has never 
been any reasonable cause for such apprehension;" and this assur- 
ance was reinforced by quoting an utterance made in one of his 
speeches when a candidate: "I have no purpose, directly or indi- 
rectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States 
where it exists. I believe I liave no lawful right to do so, and I 
have no inclination to do so." 

But, Mr. Lincoln, announced liis purpose to "preserve, protect 
and defend" the Government. He declared: "The Government 
will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being your- 
selves the aggressors." These words were addressed to his dis- 
satisfied countrymen at the South. The members of the Virginia 
Convention, after reading these utterances of the President, were 
hopeful that the disturbing questions might still be amicably 
adjusted. So believing, on tlie 8th of April, the Convention adopted 
a resolution creating a committee of three to wait upon the Presi- 
dent; "and to respectfully ask of him to communicate to this con- 



4^e^ 



602 History of Tazewell County 

vention the policy which the Federal executive intends to pursue 
in regard to the Confederate States." It was a committee com- 
posed of three very eminent men; William Ballard Preston, of Mont- 
gomery County; Alexander H. H. Stuart, of Augusta, and George 
W. Randolph, of the city of Richmond. 

The committee went to Washington on the 12th of April, and 
the President received them on the morning of the 13th. Unfor- 
tunately for the peaceful mission of the committee, on the day of 
their arrival at Washington bombardment of Fort Sumter was 
commenced by General G. T. Beuregaurd and war had actually 
begun. The President handed the committee a written reply to the 
preamble and resolution of the Virginia Convention, in which he 
said: 
.qP^ "The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and 

'^ possess the property and places belonging to the government, and 

to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what is necessary for 
these objects there will be no invasion — no using of force against 
or among the people anywhere. * * * * 

"But if, as now appears to be true, in pursuit of a purpose to 
drive the United States authorities from these places, an unprovoked 
assault has been made upon Fort Sumter, I shall hold myself at 
liberty to repossess, if I can, like places which had been seized 
before the government was devolved upon me. And in anj^ event 
I shall to the extent of my ability repel force by force." 

Two days after sending his reply to the Virginia Convention, 
President Lincoln issued his eventful proclamation calling forth 
the militia of the several States of the Union to the aggregate num- 
ber of 75,000. This was done to carry out the policy he had 
announced in his rejoly to the resolution of inquiry sent from the 
Virginia Convention. A requisition was made upon the Governor 
of Virginia for her quota of militia under the proclamation. Gov- 
ernor Letcher immediately issued a proclamation declaring that 
Virginia would not, under any circumstances, supply troops to aid 
in any manner in any assault upon the Southern States. 

Following these important incidents the Convention went into 
secret sessions; and, after sitting several days with closed doors, 
on the 17th of April, 1861, adopted an ordinance which repealed 
the ratification of the Federal Constitution by the State of Virginia, 
and resumed all the rights and powers granted by the State to the 



and Southwest Virginia 603 

Federal Government. The ordinance required that the question 
should be submitted to the people on tlie following fourtli Thursday 
in May for ratification or rejection. An election was held on that 
day, and tlie action of the Convention was endorsed by a very large 
majority of the votes cast at the election. 

The secret sessions of the Convention, held before the ordinance 
was adopted and promulgated, were marked with very able and 
heated discussions of the secession question. There was a strong anti- 
secession sentiment prevailing among the members, as was shown 
by their votes when the ordinance was put upon its final passage. 
It was adopted by a vote of 88 to 55. The minority was made up of 
a number of the most distinguished men of the Commonwealth. 
Among these were: Alexander H. H. Stuart, John B. Baldwin, 
Edmund Pendleton, William McComas, Jubal A. Early, Robert Y. 
Conrad, James Marshall, Williams C. Wickam, John S. Carlile, 
Alfred M. Barbour, George W. Summers, John Janney, who was 
President of the Convention; Waitman T. Willey, Sherrard Clem- 
mens, Samuel McD. Moore, John F. Lewis, Algernon S. Gray, 
William White, J. G. Holladay, and others. 

The men who represented the counties that constitute the present 
Ninth Congressional District of Virginia in the Convention were 
as follows: Lee — John D. Sharj); Lee and Scott — Peter C. John- 
ston; Scott — Colbert C. Fuqua; Russell and Wise — William B. 
Aston; Tazewell and Buchanan — William P. Cecil and Samuel L. 
Graham; Washington — Robert E. Grant and John A. Campbell; 
Smyth — James W. Sheffey; Wythe — Robert C. Kent; Pulaski — 
Benjamin F. Wysor; Giles — Manillius Chapman. Three of these — 
Mr. Sharp of Lee, Mr. Fuqua of Scott, and Mr. Grant of Washing- 
ton — voted against the ordinance; but Mr. Grant changed his vote 
to the affirmative. The other members from this district — nine in 
number — voted for the ordinance. 

Governor Letcher took prompt steps for organizing and mobiliz- 
ing the military forces of Virginia. A number of welL-trained 
volunteer companies were already in existence in the various cities 
and counties of the State, and these were quickly mustered into ser- 
vice. The governor, on the 22nd of April, nominated Colonel 
Robert E. Lee to be Commander of the military and naval forces of 
Virginia, with the rank of major general. The nomination was 
confirmed by the Convention; and on the following day, the 23rd, 



604 History of Tazewell County 

the great military chieftain appeared and was introduced to the 
august body by John Janney, the venerable President, in a speech 
tliat presaged the fame that Lee woukl win in the four years that 
followed. General Lee s response to tlie beautiful remarks of Mr. 
Janney was brief and characteristic. He said: "Mr. President 
and Gentlemen of the Convention — Profoundly impressed with the 
solemnity of the occasion, for wliich I must say I was not prepared, 
I accept tilt position assigned by your partiality. I would have 
much preferred had your choice fallen on an abler man. Trusting 
in Almight}'^ God, an approving conscience, and the aid of my fel- 
low-citizens, I devote myself to the service of my native State, in 
whose behalf alone, will I ever again draw my sword." 

A temporary union of Virginia with the Confederate States 
was effected through Commissioners appointed by the Convention, 
and Alexander H. Stephens, Commissioner for the Confederacy. 
And on the 25th of April an ordinance was passed adopting the 
Constitution of the Provisional Government of the Confederate 
States; and this ordinance was not to be effective until and unless 
the Ordinance of Secession was ratified by the voters of Virginia. 
Later, a resolution was passed inviting the President of the Con- 
federate States, and the constituted authorities of the Confederacy, 
to make the city of Richmond, or some other place in this State, the 
seat of government of the Confederacy. Alexander H. Stephens, 
Vice President of the Confedei-ate States of America, says in his 
History of the United States: "On the 21st of May, after the 
secession of Virginia, the seat of government of the Confederate 
States was transferred to Richmond, the capital of that State." 

Thus did a convention, composed of the most eminent men of 
the Commonwealth, separate Virginia from the United States of 
America and identify its liopes and fortunes with the Confederate 
States. 

I have undertaken to relate as briefly as possible the most 
potent factors that forced a dismemberment of the Union, and the 
consequent four years of tragic strife between the sections. This, 
I believed, was necessary before telling what the people of Taze- 
well did as their part in the Civil War. 

If one cares to search for the causes of the war between the 
States, they can surely be found in the series of events that attended 
the agitation of the slavery question — beginning with the Missouri 



and Southwest Virginia 605 

question in 1818, and culminating in the Presidential election of 
1860. To whom shall be alloted the fearful responsibility of 
originating the causes that provoked the terrible catastrophe? This, 
up to the present time, has been largely a matter of individual or 
sectional opinion. Conservative thought may, possibly, eventually 
find that the fault was dual — divided equally between the fanatical 
Abolitionists of the North and the uncompromising slaveholders of 
the South. The Abolitionists so abhored slavery that they violated 
the Constitution, defied the decrees of the highest judicial tribunal 
of the Government, and employed the most barbarous agencies for 
its abolition. And its extreme advocates at the South claimed, as 
did John C. Calhoun, that slavery was a benevolent institution and 
should be perpetuated. Others at the South contended that its 
economic value transcended all questions of morality and righteous- 
ness. From these two extremes there was developed an irrepressible 
conflict that could not be concluded except by war. 



606 History of Tazewell County 



CHAPTER V. 

WHAT TAZEWELL DID IN THE WAR. 

There was practically no difference of opinion among the people 
of Tazewell as to what they ought to do in the conflict between the 
North and the South. At the election held for ratification of the 
Ordinance of Secession the vote of the county was practically unan- 
imous for ratification of the ordinance. This attitude was not 
evoked by a desire to extend or perpetuate slavery. According to 
the census of I860, the entire population of the county, after the 
formation of Buchanan and McDowell counties, had been reduced 
to 9,920 souls. Of this number 8,625 were white persons, 1,202 
were negro slaves, and 93 free negroes. There were not more than 
two or three hundred slave-owners in the county. 

From the day that Tazewell became a political unit of the State 
of Virginia and of the Federal Union, the people of the county had 
remained steadfast in their devotion to the political creed of Thomas 
Jefferson. They were thoroughly indoctrinated with his theories 
of States-Rights and Local Self -Government. Hence, when the 
North undertook to violate the constitutional and reserved rights 
of the Southern States, the men of Tazewell stood heartily with 
Virginia in her resolute support of the Southern people. It was 
not to extend or perpetuate slavery that Tazewell sent two thousand 
of her devoted sons to do service for the "Lost Cause." 

The sublime spirit that animated the Clinch Valley pioneers to 
defend their homes and loved ones from assaults made by the sav- 
age red foe, and to do much splendid service for their country on 
numerous battle fields while fighting Great Britain's red-coated 
veterans during the Revolutionary War, was reawakened in the 
breasts of their descendants when the tocsin of war was sounded in 
1861. Immediately following the withdrawal of Virginia from the 
Union, volunteer companies were rapidly organized in Tazewell 
County, so rapidly that it was almost impossible to supply them 
with equipments for service. But this did not stay the ardor of 
the brave and eager men of Tazewell. Most of the men and boys 
of the county had guns of their own, and they knew how to use them 



and Southwest Virginia 



607 



quite as well as did their pioneer ancestors. Man^ of the soldiers 
went to the front armed with their own guns and pistols, and tlie 
cavalrymen furnished their own horses. Twenty companies — ten 
of infantry and ten of cavalry — did valiant service for the Con- 
federacy. 

Bodies of Confederate troops were on several occasions encamped 
in the county wliilc the war was going on. The first of these was- 
a small army under the command of General Humphrey Marshall/ 
of Kentucky, that camped in the spring of 1862 east of the county 




Captain William Edward Peery, son of 'Squire Thomas Peery, 
and grandson of William Peery the pioneer, was, possibly, the most 
universally beloved man that Tazewell County ever produced. He was 
bom July 7th, 1829, and died March 15th, 1895. It can be safely said 
that he lived and died without an enemy on earth. His home was the 
centre of the lavish hospitality for which Tazewell in his day was so 
noted. He was educated at Emory and Henry College, and was a 
man of fine literary taste and attainments. The fii'st year of the 
Civil War he sei-ved on the staff of Gen. Jno. B. Floyd. In the spring 
of 1862 he became lieutenant of a company of cavalry, of which com- 
pany the gallant Col. W. L. Graham was captain. This company was 
attached to the 16th Virginia Cavalry Regiment in the fall of 1862, 
and he was made captain. On the retreat from Gettysburg he lost his 
right aiTu and was made a prisoner at the battle of Boonesboi'o, Md., in 
June, 1863. He was imprisoned at Johnson's Island until March, 1865, 
when he was exchanged, and i-eturned home after an absence of two 
years. Captain Peery would never accept a public office, though often 
solicited by his friends to stand as a candidate. However, he held and 
expressed decided and intelligent convictions on all public questions, 
and had much to do with shaping the political and economic thought 
of the people of the county. 



608 



History of Tazewell County 



seat, tlien Jeli'ersonville. General Marshall liad liis headquarters at 
the home of the late Captain Wm. E. Perry, and most of his men 
were quartered on Ca2:)tain Pecry's farm. His ax'my was eomposed 
of the 5th Kentueky Infantry, commanded by Colonel A. J. May; 
54th Virginia Infantry, under Colonel Trigg; 29tli Virginia Infan- 




This old walnut tree is one of the most noted trees in Tazewell 
County. It stands near the west end of the residence of the late 
Capt. Wm. E. Peery; and many hundreds of his friends were greeted 
and socially entertained by him under its delightfully refreshing- 
screen. Tradition affirms that Dr. Thomas Dunn English wrote the 
sweetly pathetic ballad, "Ben Bolt," within the precincts of its cool 
shadows. He certainly wrote "The Logan Grazier," one of his poems, 
under this tree. Dr. English was then sojourning in Tazewell and 
was f i-equently the guest of Captain Peery. 

try, under Colonel Moore; a small battalion of infantry, com- 
manded by Major Dunn; a battalion of Kentucky cavalry, under 
Colonel Bradley; and a battery of artillery, commanded by Cap- 
tain Jeffries. General Marshall had been ordered to assemble these 
forces at Tazewell to co-operate with General Henry Heath, who 



and Southwest Virginia 609 

was stationed at Dublin, in Pulaski County, and Colonel Gabriel C. 
Wharton who was encamped at Wytheville with his regiment, the 
51st Virginia Infantry. The three commands — Marshall's, Heath's, 
and Wharton's — did co-operate in May, 1862, against the Federal 
army under General Cox that was advancing up New River, aiming 
to reach the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, now the Norfolk & 
Western Railway. General Marshall had made a fine record in 
the Mexican W^ar, but in the operation against Cox he showed such 
inefficiency that he had to retire from active military service, 

Tlie next body of men that encamped for a season in the county 
was a battalion of Georgia artillery. There were three or four 
companies and it was a splendid body of men. They camped here 
during the winter of 1862-63, and came more especially to get sup- 
plies of food for the men and feed for their horses, there still being 
an abundance of grain, hay, and meat in the county. The encamp- 
ment was made in a basin at the head of a hollow just west of 
the present fine orchard of Samuel C. Peery, on land then belonging 
to the estate of Major David Peery, and now owned by Ritchie 
Peery. Comfortable cabins were built for the officers and men, logs 
cut from trees on the site of the camp being used for that purpose. 
The place was afterwards called by persons living in the locality 
the "Georgia Camp." It is about two miles northeast of the town 
of Tazewell. Early in the spring of 1863 the Georgians left 
their winter quarters and went South for active service. 

Very soon after the Georgians left, the 45tli Virginia Battalion 

of Infantry, known as Beckley's Battalion, occupied the camp that 

had been vacated. This battalion was comjjosed of four companies, 

and was made up almost entirely of men from the border counties, 

most of them from Boone and Logan. Several of the Hatfields and 

McCoys belonged to the battalion, Ans. Hatfield being a lieutenant 

in one of the companies. It was as fearless fighting body of men 

as could be found in the Confederate service. Lieutenant Colonel 

Henry Beckley, son of General Alfred Beckley, of Raleigh County, 

commanded the battalion; Major Blake Woodson, of Botetourt 

County, was second in command; J. G. Greenway, who afterwards 

became distinguished as a physician at Hot Springs, Arkansas, was 

adjutant; and Dr. Jno. S. Pendleton, brother of the author, was 

surgeon. In the spring of 1864 the writer enlisted as a private 

in Company A, which was commanded by Captain Stallings, who 
T.H. — 39 



610 



History of Tazewell County 



was clerk of Logan County. At the battle of Piedmont, on the 5th 
of June, 1864), the ISth Virginia Regiment and the iSth Virginia 
Battalion were near each otlier on the figliting line, only one regi- 
ment, the 60th Virginia, intervening. 

The Tazewell men in the -iSth Regiment suffered heavily. 
Colonel William Browne was mortally wounded; Captain Charles 
A. Fudge, was severely wounded and fell into the hands of the 
enemy; Captain James S. Peery was captured, and several other 
men from the county were made prisoners, among them Jesse White. 




Captain Charles A. Fudge entered the service of the Confederate 
States early in the spring of 1861 as second lieutenant of Company 
H, 45th Regiment, Virginia Infantry. And in the spring of 1862 he 
became captain of the company. He commanded his company in 
numerous battles; but at the battle of Piedmont, on June 5th, 1864, 
he was desperately wounded and captured by the Federals. He was 
confined in prison until the war ended. Though he lived to a venerable 
age he never recovered fully from the terrible wound received at 
Piedmont. He was bom March 7th, 1834, and died November 2nd, 1912. 

General William E. Jones, who commanded tlie Confederate forces, 
was killed just about the time the Federals made a successful 
breach in the Confederate lines and flanked the 45th and 60th 
Regiments, and the 45th Battalion. Colonel Beckley was wounded 
early in the action, a minnie ball passing through his left wrist ; 
and Major Woodson was shot through the left arm, between the 
shoulder and elbow. The author was captured in this battle, and, 
after being a prisoner for two days, was paroled at Staunton. 



and Southwest Virginia 611 

There were other encampments of Confederate soldiers, at 
various times, in tlie county. Colonel A. J. May camped for a 
time with his Kentuckians at Indian, now Cedar Bluff; and in July, 
1863, he had a small force of cavalry camping on Colonel Henry 
Bowen's place in the Cove. The 16th Virginia Cavalry, commanded 
by Colonel William L. Graham, wintered at Camp Georgia in the 
winter of 1863-64.. 



The losses incurred by Tazewell as a result of the Civil War 
were not confined to those that came from the death and disablement 
by wounds of so many of her best men. Her financial losses were 
very heavy. All the coin, and paper money, of any future value, 
that was in circulation in Tazewell when the war began had dis- 
appeared, or was valueless, when the struggle was over. Gradually 
but unceasingly for four years, the thousands of horses, cattle, 
sheep and hogs, that were owned bj^ the farmers and graziers had 
been reduced to mere hundreds by home consumption and the gener- 
ous supplies furnished the Confederate Government. The produc- 
tion of grain in the county was largely diminished by the absence 
of so many men who had been actively engaged in farming before 
they became soldiers. But the old men and the boys labored faith- 
full}^, and enough grain was produced to feed all the people at home 
and to furnish considerable quantities to outsiders in exchange for 
depreciated Confederate mone}'. The faithful negro slaves also i 
toiled on uncomplainingly, and did their part nobly in caring for the 
wives and children of their masters and the families of the soldiers 
who had no slaves. Nothing more worthy of commendation trans- 
pired during the Civil War than the faithful service performed by 
the slaves in Tazewell County. In proportion to their condition and 
opportunity they did as excellent service as the gallant men who 
fought for the Confederacy. 

Too much cannot be said in praise of the splendid service 
rendered by the good women of Tazewell while the war was in 
progress. There were no Red Cross organizations in the county, 
and none anywhere in the South, to do such work as was performed 
by the Red Cross organizations in the recent World War. But 
every precious mother and daughter of Tazewell while the States 
of the Union were engaged in fratricidal strife was in herself an 



612 



History of Tazewell County 



impersonation of the modern Red Cross heroine. They eould not 
go to the battle grounds to attend tlie wounded and dying; but 
at liome tliey were one in thought and purpose to do all they eould 
for the comfort of the men who were marching, fighting and dying 
for the cause they loved. 

The old spinning wheels and looms were brought from the 
garrets and lumber-rooms and put into active use. During the 
last two years of the war. in 1863 and 1804, it was very seldom 
that fabrics of any kind suitable for clothing, either for men or 




The above picture is reproduced from a daguerreotype made at 
Lynchburg, Va., in March, 1864. I am using it to show the excellent 
quality of the woolen cloth w^oven by the good women of Southwest 
Virginia to supply their hoys and kindred with clothing while they 
were fighting for the "Lost Cause." At the right of the picture is 
the author, dressed in a suit which was made from jeans woven by 
his aunt, Mrs. Kate Cecil Peery. On the left is my brother, Dr. Jno. 
S. Pendleton, and he is clothed in a suit of jeans for which our mother 
wove the cloth. My brother was surgeon of the 45th Battalion, Vir- 
ginia Infantry, and I was a private in Company A of the same bat- 
talion. This is the only picture of a Confederate soldier clothed in 
jeans I have ever seen, and that is why I use it here. 

women, except such as were manufactured at home, were obtainable. 
All the country stores were closed, because the merchants could 
not buy any goods to continue business ; and the stocks of the two 
or three stores that tried to continue business in Jeffersonville 
would hardly have made a load for a four-horse wagon. 



and Southwest Virginia 613 

Nearly all the farmers, large and small, had flocks of sheep 
which they carefully conserved, and the cultivation of flax was 
resumed. In this way enough raw material was produced in the 
county, wJien used with cotton thread, to provide ample clothing 
for the peojjle at home, and keep the soldiers from Tazewell com- 
fortabl}' clad. Bales of cotton thread were procured from North 
Carolina mills and used for chains in the v/ebs of jeans, linsey, and 
flannel that the women skilfully wove on their hand-looms. 

There were no commercial d3'estuifs then procurable. The 
daughters of Tazewell had not only inherited their skill as weavers, 
but had retained the ingenuity and adaptability to conditions that 
made the pioneer mothers pre-eminent. They found in the forests 
and gardens vegetable dyes, from which they got very pleasing- 
color effects. The colors were not as brilliant as those produced 
by the modern chemical d3fes, but they were satisfactory. Black 
and white walnut bark, hickory bark, smnac berries, wild indigo 
plants, and madder roots grown in the gardens, were the chief 
materials used. The colors produced from these were black, brown, 
blue, red, and sometimes by making two separate colorings a very 
pretty green effect was gotten. The linsey gowns worn by the girls 
and the jeans coats and pants of the men and boys were neat and 
comfortable. 

FEDERAL RAIDS THROUGH TAZEWELL 

Tazewell's isolated location was a great protection against 
devastations by Federal armies while the war was going on. There 
were no permanent or even temporary occupations of any section 
of the county by the enemy; but there were four invasions b}' 
raiding parties, three of which were made by large forces. All of 
the raiders came by tlie same routes the Indians travelled when 
they made their murderous forays to the Upper Clinch settlements. 
Three of them came up the Tug Fork, and one the Louisa Fork of 
Big Sandy River. 

toland's raid. 

In July, 1863, Brevet Brigadier General John Toland, in com- 
mand of about one thousand Federal cavah-y, suddenly invaded 
Tazewell County. He came up Tug River and entered Abb's Val- 
ley on the afternoon of July 15th, crossed Stony Ridge and camped 



614 



History of Tazewell County 



that night on Mrs. Susan Hawthorne's place about midway between 
the present residence of Mrs. Henry S. Bowen and the old Charles 
Taylor place, which is about half a mile west of Mrs. Bowen's 
house. At daybreak on the morning of the 16th, Toland resumed 
his march. Some of liis men burned Lain's mill, which stood on the 
site now occupied by Witten's mill. For some reason the Federals 
applied the torch to and totally destroyed Kiah Harman's dwelling, 
wliich stood about one-fourth of a mile north of the Round House. 




General Toland camped about three hundred yards west of the 
beautiful home of Mrs. Henry S. Bowen, shown above, and situated 
seven miles northeast of the court house. This is one of the most 
attractive of the many lovely homes in Tazewell County. 



Just after sunrise the head of the column arrived at Captain 
Wm. E, Peery's, one and a half miles east of the court house. 
Thomas Ritchie Peery, brother of Captain Peery, Samuel L. 
Graham, John Hambrick, and the author, the latter then sixteen 
years old, were sitting in Mrs. Peery's room, waiting to get their 
breakfast, which was being hastily prepared. We had left our 
guns on the porch at the back of the room in which we were sitting. 
The floor of the porch was, as it now is, on a level with the ground, 
and paved with brick. Suddenly two Yankee cavalrj'^men rode on 



and Southwest Virginia 615 

to the porch and picked up our guns; and the house was then 
completely surrounded by troopers. 

Mr. Graham and Mr. Hambrick slipped out into the hall and 
went into the ell part of the house, which Mr. Hambrick, as 
manager of the Peery farm, was then occupying with his family. 
By a clever ruse, Graham and Hambrick avoided being made 
prisoners. Mr. Hambrick went quickly to bed, pretending to be 
sick, and Mr. Graham assumed the role of his physician. When 
a couple of troopers entered the room Mr. Graham was feeling 
Hambrick's pulse, and told the intruders he was a very sick man, 
urging them to retire as a shock might kill the patient. The trick 
was successful, as the kind-hearted soldiers promptly left the room. 

In the meantime Tom Ritchie Peery, who was then nineteen 
years old, and the writer, who was sixteen, had been ordered to 
join a bunch of prisoners that were out in the barn lot. There 
were some fifteen or twenty yovxths and old men, who had been cap- 
tured along the line of march from the head of the Clinch. 

General Toland was moving his force very rapidly so as to 
reach Wytheville as quickly as possible; and his men did not have 
much opportunity to plunder houses on the line of march. They 
took eight or ten horses from the Peery farm, among them two fine 
dapple iron-gray mares that belonged to Mr. Hambrick. Only 
two horses wei*e left on the place. One of these was "Bill", 
'Squire Tommie Peery's old riding horse, over twenty years old; and 
the other a beautiful young sorrel horse my grandfather Cecil had 
given me. The Yankees couldn't catch old Bill and my horse. 
These two horses jumped fences and ran into the brush at the west 
end of Buckhorn Mountain. 

There were several boxes of old Kentucky rifles in the granary, 
that had been left there by General Marshall's men in 1862. The 
guns were brought from the granary, broken up and piled with 
pieces of wood, and burned. Some of the guns were still loaded, 
and as the barrels became heated the sharp cracks of the rifles 
made the Yankees scatter. During this time of confusion, the writer 
quietly walked away from the guards and slipped back into the 
house, seated himself, and remained there until all the troops had 
passed up the road on their march to Wytheville. The other 
prisoners were taken as far as Burke's Garden and were there 
paroled. While passing through the Garden, a storehouse that 



616 



History of Tazewell Couny 



belonged to D. Harold Peery was set on fire by the raiders and 
destroj'ed. It was where the late Henry Groseclose had his store. 
About 10 o'clock the morning of the 16th, some four hours after 
Toland's men passed, Colonel A. J. May, who was camping witli 
a small force of Confederates on Colonel Henry Bowen's place 
in the Cove, passed Captain's Peery's with about fifty mounted 
men in pursuit of Toland. Colonel May was riding rajDidly at the 
head of the column, and was carrying a pennant or small flag. 




Colonel Andrew Jackson May was a Kentuckian by birth, but 
was so closely associated with what transpired in Tazewell County 
during the entire Civil War, that he made it his future home, and was 
recognized as one of Tazewell's Confederate soldiers. In the spring of 
1861 he was living at Prestonsburg, Kentucky, and entered the service 
of the Confederacy as lieutenant colonel of the 5th Kentucky Infantry. 
In the fall of 1862 he organized the 10th Kentucky Cavalry, and was 
made colonel of the regiment. He was its commander until the war 
closed. 

From his manner, he seemed to say with his flag: "Follow me!" 
They were following him compactly and eagerly. The Colonel 
was every inch a soldier, and his men were as fearless as their 
leaders. A little later, Colonel Vincent Witcher, another daring- 
soldier, passed Captain Peery's with a small force of mounted 
men pursuing the Federals. Colonel JMay and his men on the morn- 
ing of the 17th came in contact Avith the rear guard of Toland's 
forces at Stony Creek, some six miles northwest of Wytheville, 



I 



and Southwest Virginia 



617 



where several of the Federals were killed, and, perhaps, a few 
prisoners taken. 

From Stony Creek, General Toland pushed on rapidly to Wythe- 
ville, reaching the head of what is now called Tazewell Street on 
the 17th of July, 18(53, about ten o'clock A. M. The people of 
Wytheville had been notified of the approach of the enemj^, but 
no Confederate troops were then stationed at that point. There 
was a home auard org-anization of about fiftv vouths and men, all 




Captain David G. Sayers entered the Confederate army in the 
that was commanded by Captain Elias V. Hai-man. In the fall of 1862, 
spring of 1862 as second lieutenant of a company of Partizan Rangers 
Lieutenant Sayers was made captain of a company that was attached 
to the 37th Battalion of Virginia Cavalry, known as Witcher's Bat- 
talion. He was with the detachment of Witcher's men that pursued 
Toland's regiment when it made its raid to Wytheville. Captain 
Sayers was born September 15th, 1840, and died April 12th, 1902. 



I 



of whom were under or over military age. A small detachment 
of reserves, possibly fifty in number, was sent to their assistance 
from a Confederate training camp at Dublin, in Pulaski Count3^ 
The command of the one hundred men was placed with Colonel 
Joseph L. Kent. He had entered the Confederate service as Captain 
of the Wythe Grays, in April, 18G1. That company was a unit 
of the 4th Virginia Infantry, Stonewall Brigade. He had served 
as Colonel of tlie 4th Regiment in 1862, but on account of ill health 
had been forced to retire from the service. Colonel Kent, being 



618 History of Tazewell County 

an experienced military man, made excellent disposition of his 
small but fearless force. Some youths and men concealed them- 
selves in and behind houses along the east and west side of Taze- 
well Street and performed desperate feats as sharpshooters, or 
snipers, as they are now called, while the enemy was advancing 
along that street. 

For some reason an attempt was made by the invaders to fire 
the town, or, at least, certain houses. At the time it was said or 
thought that the burning was done in revenge for the killing of 
Gen. Toland by a sniper. He was killed immediately in front of 
the beautiful residence of Captain William Giboney, which fronted 
on Tazewell Street and stood where the High School building is 
now located. The torch was applied to the Gibbonev residence, 
and all its valuable contents were destroyed, except a few articles 
that were approjDriated by the raiders. Among these articles was 
a dictionary that fell into the hands of Captain Fortescue, who 
was in charge of the advance guard of Toland's troops. The 
dictionary was afterwards recovered by Captain Gibboney, and 
on its blank pages the following entry was found: 

"Camp Piatt 
Aug. 1st, 1863. 
"This book (an old Webster's Dictionary) was the only article 
saved from the buildings and residence of Wm. Gibboney, in Wythe- 
ville, Va., destroyed by order of Brevet Brigadier Gen. John Toland 
on the 17th day of July, 1863. It was entrusted to Thos. O'Brian, 
who in attempting to cross New River was drawn under the current 
and drowned — it was afterwards recovered & lost in a skirmish — 
& recaptured & carried to Wytheville, where it was again in the 
hands of the enemy — & again recaptured & carried over four hun- 
dred miles by the troops, being under fire the entire trip, lasting 
nearly eight days — & arrived at Gauly Bridge, W. Va. in an almost 
exhausted condition and immediately engaged with Gen'l McCaus- 
land of the Rebel army & reached Camp Piatt after 15 days of 
tedious hardship & heavy loss of Men. 

Wm. H. Fortescue, 
Capt. Commanding Squadron." 

Several years after the conclusion of the Civil War, Mr. Albert 
H. Gibboney, son of Captain Wm. Gibboney, received a letter from 
Captain Fortescue in which he made the following statements: 



and Southwest Virginia 619 

"In reference to your Father's property, will say the order to 
burn it was given to me by Gen. Toland in person. When Gen. 
Toland gave me the order I asked him if he had better not make 
it written. He replied that it could be done quicker than he could 
write the order." Captain Fortescue also wrote Mr. Gibboney: 

"I was in charge of the advance that entered Wj'theville & had 
as Junior, Captain Delane)' — who was one of the first officers 
killed. Gen. Toland had just ordered a sabre charge & Col. Powell, 
2nd in command, rode up & gave me the order. I had just given 
the order when Gen. Toland was struck and died instantly. Col. 
Powell was the next one to fall. And though I was afterwards on 
many hotly contested fields I was never upon any that was more so 
than Wytheville." 

The fighting began at about 10 o'clock, and was continued for 
about an hour. Of course such a small force of citizens and soldiers 
could not successfully hold back one thousand, or more, splendidly 
armed and mounted men. The Federals by repeated charges forced 
the Confederates to retire and scatter; but the enemy had been 
defeated in their plans for doing extensive damage to the railroad. 
As soon as the Confederates withdrew, the Federals sent detach- 
ments towards the railroad station to begin the work of destruction. 
But they heard the loud whistling of a locomotive that was pulling 
a train from the east and that was approaching Wytheville. They 
thought the ti-ain was bringing Confederate reinforcements, and 
made a hasty return to the main body of Toland's men; and the 
demoralized command commenced its retreat to West Virginia. 

After setting fire to Captain Gibboney's dwelling the torch was 
applied to several houses on Tazewell and Main streets. The dwell- 
ing and printing office of David A. St. Clair, situated opposite 
Captain Gibboney's home, were totally destroyed. A storehouse 
on Main Street that was used for medical supplies by the Confed- 
erate Government, and the Cumberland Presbyterian church on 
Main Street, that stood a short distance east of the present Epis- 
copal church, were also burned down. The women and children 
in the other houses that were fired, put out the flames as soon as 
the Yankees retired from the buildings. If the Federals had not 
retreated so hastily it is likely that much more serious damage 
would have been done to the town. 



620 History of Tazewell County 

The Federals' losses anoimted to seven killed -ind thirty 
wounded. Among the killed were General Toland and Captain 
Delaney. Lieutenant Colonel Powell, second in command, was 
severely wounded and was made a prisoner. He was riding- one of 
John Hambricks' fine gray mares that had been taken from Ca}>- 
tain Peery's place on the morning of the 16th. The mare was 
restored to Mr. Hambrick a few days thereafter, being ridden from 
Wytheville by Colonel Jas. F. Pendleton, father of the author. 

There were only three whites and one negro killed on the Con- 
federate side. Captain Oliver was mortally wounded near the 
stone house on Tazewell Street, then owned and occupied by Mrs. 
Haller, mother of the late Colonel Charles Haller; and now owned 
and occupied as a residence by Miss Frances Gibboney and her 
sister, Mrs. Kate Campbell. Pat Helligan, an Irishman, was stand- 
ing in his house and declined to surrender on account of his 
nationality; he was shot and died instantly. Clayton Cook was 
mortallj'^ wounded, just as he walked out of Crockett's Hotel. He 
was very deaf and did not hear the demands the Federals made 
upon him to surrender. George, a faithful negro slave of Mr. 
Ephraim McGavock, was shot while tr3'ing to save his master from 
capture. A number of citizens were made prisoners, among them 
Colonel Thos. J. Boyd, Dr. Gage, Alfred Suit, James Corvin, Frank 
Slater, James Miller, Wash Leshy, Ephraim McGavock and Robert 
Bailey. The prisoners were taken as far as the top of Big Walker's 
Mountain, about ten miles northwest of W^ytheville, and there 
released. 

General Toland was shot through the heart and expired instantly. 
It has never been positively known who fired the shot that killed 
him. Some said it was Bob Bailey, a youth in his teens, son of 
■Jesse Bailey. Others said it was Andrew Parish, also a youth, who 
fired the fatal shot; and still others claimed it was a woman who 
killed him. Well might Captain Fortescue declare: "Although 
I was afterwards on many hotly contested fields, I was never upon 
any that was more so than Wytheville." Nothing more desperately 
daring was done during the Civil War than the defence that was 
made at Wytheville by the old men and boys, and, possibly, the 
women of the town. 

The Federals were very much demoralized by their experience 
at Wytheville. After arriving at the top of Walker's Mountain, 



and Southwest Virginia 621 

instead of retreating by the same route by which they had advanced, 
they left the turnpike road and went down a mountain spur called 
"Ram's Horn", and entered the valley in Bland County, and 
turned their march eastward. When they came to the place of 
William Stowers they turned their horses into his wheat field and 
entirely destroyed his crojD. From that point they went east as 
far as Charles Grayson's place. There they turned back and went 
through the gap of Brushy Mountain over what is known as the 
Laurel road, and followed that road down Laurel Creek to Frank 
Suiter's place in the Hunting Camp Valley. They stole all Mr. 
Suiter's horses, and followed a path across Round Mountain and 
came into the Wolf Creek Valley at the now Isaac Stowers farm. 
Then they proceeded up Wolf Creek to Crabtree's Gap, and crossed 
Rich Mountain into the Clear Fork Valley. Turning down Clear 
Fork, they proceeded down the valley to the Henry Dill's place 
at the mouth of Cove Creek, and turned up that creek. A small 
detachment of Confederate soldiers and Tazewell citizens charged 
upon the rear guard of the Federals as they were going up the 
creek, killing several of the enemy, and captured several men and 
a number of horses. The raiders crossed East River Mountain 
at the George Gap, which is at the southwest corner of the Walter 
M. Sanders farm. From thence they passed through "Pin Hook" 
(now Graham), crossed the Stony Ridge and camped tliat night in 
the meadows near Falls Mills. The next morning they proceeded 
by way of the mouth of Abb's Valley to a gap in the Laurel Ridge, 
just above the big spring. There they were attacked by a part 
of the lOtli Kentucky Cavalry. In the skirmish two of the Ken- 

tuckians, Thomas Fletcher and Tutz were killed; but the 

Federal losses are not known. Continuing their retreat, the Fed- 
erals passed just east of Pocahontas, and on by way of the Peeled 
Chestnuts ; and at last gained safety in the mountains of West 
Virginia. 

A very interesting incident occurred while the Federals were 
retreating, in which a Tazewell girl proved herself a heroine. A 
Federal trooper stopped at the home of Jonathan Hendrickson, who 
lived about two hundred yards west of the present Graham furnace. 
He ordered his supper, which was promptly served him. When he 
arose from the table he was looking into the muzzle of his own 
carbine, which was pointed at the Yankee by Miss Mattie Hendrick- 



622 History of Tazewell County 

son. She politely told him he was her prisoner; and she held him 
as such until a squad of Confederates came along and took him 
in charge. 

SMALL RAID BY FEDERALS. 

The second raid by Federals through the county, was made by 
a very small detachment. They travelled at night, on foot, and 
kept away from all thoroughfares and houses. The object of the 
raid was to get to the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad near Marion, 
and to destroy bridges, burn depots, and so forth. This raid was 
made in the latter part of August, 1863. Toland's unsuccessful 
raid to Wytheville was made about six weeks previously. There 
were about twenty-five or thirty men in the second raid, and they 
approached Tazewell by the Sandy Valley route and entered the 
county in the Horse Pen Cove. There they concealed themselves to 
await nightfall, when they would resume their journey over ridges 
and mountains. 

Several peach trees, laden with ripe fruit, were standing about 
a deserted cabin near where the men were in concealment. Some 
of the hungry men were lurd from their hiding by the tempting red 
peaches. While they were gathering and devouring the fruit, 
Charles Taylor, who lived half a mile northwest of Witten's Mill, 
and about the same distance west of the present residence of Mrs. 
Henry S. Bowen, came suddenly upon the raiders. Mr. Taylor 
was out looking for lost cattle, which he thought had strayed into 
the Horse Pen Cove. The officer in command of the expedition 
made Mr. Taylor a prisoner; and required him to make oath that 
he would not reveal the presence of the raiding party to anyone, 
which Mr. Taylor faithfully observed. Later on, they were dis- 
covered by an old woman named Patsy Hall, who did weaving for 
people in the surrounding neighborhoods. They made Patsy take 
an oath similar to that administered to Mr. Tavlor. She did not 
consider the oath binding, and forthwith travelled to the home of 
Robert Graham, who lived where Robert Tarter now resides, and 
told Mr. Graham and others in the neighborhood that the Yankees 
were coming by way of the Horse Pen Cove. Of course Patsey, 
like the old woman who saw a thousand squirrels in a tree, imagined 
there were hundreds in the raiding party, and so related. 

Runners were sent out immediately to notify the people, just as 
the pioneers were warned of the approach of Indians, and before 



and Southwest Virginia 623 

sundown the approach of the enemy was made known to all persons 
along the route the raiders were expected to follow. A detachment 
of the Tazewell Troopers were doing scouting duty, and were 
encamped in Abb's Valley, under the command of Lieutenant Joseph 
S. Moss. Judge S. C. Graham, then a youth seventeen years old, 
son of Robert Graham; and J. R. East, a youth about the same age, 
were sent as couriers to Abb's Valley to warn Lieutenant Moss of 
the presence of the enemy. He immediately brought his squadron 
to the head of the North Fork of the Clinch, and during the night 
sent out scouts to discover the whereabouts of the raiding party. 
About daylight the trail of the party was discovered just east of 
Witten's Mill. It was seen that they were traveling on foot, 
through the woods and fields, and in a staight line toward the rail- 
road at or near Marion. Lieutenant Moss dismounted about a dozen 
of his men, and with them followed the trail. He had mounted 
troopers take the horses of himself and his dismounted men by the 
usual horseback route in the direction of Marion; and the trailers 
got their horses in one of the valleys between Marion and Tazewell. 
From Witten's Mill the raiders made a bee line, evidently by use of 
a compass, to Marion, crossing Rich, Clinch, Brushy and Walker's 
mountains. They reached the southside of Walker's Mountain, 
about five miles north of Marion, some time during the night of the 
next day following their discovery in Horse Pen Cove. They again 
went into concealment, with the purpose of striking the railroad in 
the night time. 

A courier had been sent hastily from JefTersonville to Marion to 
warn the citizens and any Confederate force that might be in that 
vicinity. As soon as the messenger arrived at Marion, Hon. James 
W. Sheffey and about twenty more citizens armed themselves and 
started out to hunt for the raiders. They found them on Hungers 
Mother Creek, about six miles north of Marion, and about two miles 
east of the Chatham Hill road, at a place then belonging to John 
Allen, but now owned by Elkana Ford. The hungry Yankees were 
feasting on roasting ears they had roasted at a fire, hiding and 
waiting until night time, when they could slip to the railroad and 
destroy bridges. The smoke from their fire attracted the attention 
of the squad of citizens and they closed in upon the raiders. When 
they saw the citizens, the raiders began to scatter and run. Two 
or three of them were captured but the balance made their escape. 



624 



History of Tazewell County 



AVEKILI, S RAID. 

Brigadier General W. W. A\crill, witli a brigade of cavalry, 
composed of 2/179 officers and men, made the third Federal invasion 
of Tazewell County, in May, 1864. It was the privilege of the 
author to view this raiding army, but under more fortunate circum- 
stances than he liad seen Toland's raiders in July, 1863. 

General John S. Williams, who was in command of the Confed- 
erate forces stationed at the Salt Works, had received notice of 




Major Thomas Peery Bowen was the eldest of the four gallant 
sons of Gen. Rees T. Bowen who served in the Confederate Amny as 
members of the "Tazewell Troopers." He was mustered into service in 
May, 1861, his company being designated Co. H of the 8th Regiment, 
Virginia Cavalry. In the fall of 1861 he became captain of the com- 
pany; and early in 1863 was promoted to major of the regiment for 
gallantry in action. Major Bowen was severely wounded in battle, 
but remained in active sei-vice until the surrender at Appomattox. 
He was born at Maiden Spring, August 2nd, 1838, and died October 
6th, 1911. 

Averill's advance through West Virginia. General Williams dis- 
patched the 8th Virginia Cavalry, under command of Colonel Abe 
Cook, and with Major Thomas P. Bowen second in command, to 
ascertain the strength of the Federals and to impede their advance 
to the Salt Works, if that i)la(e should prove to be Averill's objec- 
tive. Two companies of the 8th Cavalry had previously been sent 
to Abb's Valley to perform picket service. Colonel Cook reached 
Tazewell late in the afternoon of the 7tli of Mav with the remainder 



and Southwest Virginia 625 

of his regiment; and about the same time Averill entered Abb's 
Valley^ where he encamped tliat night. Colonel Cook camped with 
his regiment in the meadow, now owned by Joseph S. Gillespie, at 
the west end of Tazewell. 

At about noon the 8th of May the head of Averill's column 
arrived at tlie Round House ('Squire Tommie Peery's former liome) 
and there halted. The advance regiment filed into the meadow 
opposite the Round House, and the men dismounted and held tlieir 
horses while they grazed upon the grass, which was luxuriant and 
about knee deep. They sent out i^ickets, but the main body did not 
advance beyond the Round House until late in the afternoon. These 
pickets went as far as the Brittain place, a mile west of the court 
house. 

In the meantime Colonel Cook, acting upon orders sent by 
couriers from General Williams, fell back towards the Salt Works. 
Colonel Cook's retirement left Averill's advance unopposed. 

Some time ago the author heard Mr. Alex St. Clair relate what 
he knew of Averill's movements after he left the Peery place. Mr. 
St. Clair was a member of Company I, 16th Virginia Cavalry, that 
met Averill's army on the 10th of May, 1864), in the battle at 
Queen's Knob, or the Gap of Crockett's Cove, in Wythe County. 
Upon request, he has furnished me his recollections in writing, and 
they are as follows: 

RECOLLECTIONS OF MR. ST. CLAIR. 

"About the 1st of May, 1861, Gen. Averill left his winter quarters 
near Charleston, W. Va., with about 2,500 cavalry, his objective 
being Wytheville, Va., where he would strike the Va. & Tenn. R. R., 
one of the main arteries by which the Army of Northern Virginia 
was supplied. Advancing by way of Logan and Wyoming counties ^ 
he reached the head of Abb's Valley on the evening of the 7th, where 
he surprised two companies of the 8tli Va. Cavalry, on picket duty, 
and captured 20 men. Camping in the Valley that night, he pro— ] 
ceeded the following day toward Tazewell C. H. At Five Oaks he i 
was met by a small force of Confederates. In tlie skirmish that 
followed a Federal soldier was killed and buried in the garden of 
C. H. Greever, Esq. A few days after a neighbor asked the Esq. 
if lie was not sorry to have the Yankee buried so near his house. 
His reply was, 'No ding it, I wish they were all in there.' 

T.H.— 40 



626 History of Tazewell County 

"Averill reached Tazewell Court House on the afternoon of the 
8th^ and encamped on the farm of the late Capt. W. E. Peery^, one 
and a half miles east of the Court House. For some unaccountable 
reason^ he abandoned the advance on Wythevillc; by way of Burke's 
Garden^ broke camp about midnight^ and at daybreak on the 9th was 
at the residence of the late Charles F. Tiffany on Bluestone. At 
this place the Federals took quite a number of horses and negroes and 
destroyed the wagon train of the 16th Va. Cavalry, cajjturing W. P. 
Whitley, Wm. Gose, and others. Averill continued his march by 
way of Cross Roads, Mercer County, and Rocky Gap and camped 
the night of the 9th near Bland C. H. 

"The 16th Va. Cavalry, which had wintered at 'Camp Georgia' 
near the residence of S. C. Peery, two miles north of Tazewell C. 
H., was ordered east May 4th, arriving at a point near what is 
now the city of Bluefield. Col. Wm. L. Graham, who was in com- 
mand of the regiment, learned that a strong Federal force was 
advancing from Princeton. This proved to be Gen. Crook with 
about 7,000 men, who was acting in conjunction with Averill, and 
had for his objective Dublin, Va., which he reached after the battle 
of Cloyd's Farm. This battle was fought May 9th. 

"After Crook had passed Rocky Gap, Colonel Graham led the 
16th to Wytheville. On the morning of the 10th Gen. John H. 
Morgan reached Wytheville, in advance of his command, and 
ordered Col. Graham to take his regiment to the gap at Crockett's 
Cove, six miles from Wytheville, and to hold the gap till reinforced. 
Passing through the gap, the 16th emerged into the Cove beyond. 
In a very short time we saw our advanced guard coming pell mell 
with two Yankee regiments in hot pursuit. Mounting our horses 
we dashed back into the gap. Col. Graham's command was: "Dis- 
mount boys and follow Grimes", which we did with a will, and 
poured a withering fire into the charging Yanks, emptying many 
saddles, and sending the rest scurrying to cover. Col. Graham, 
not being a West Pointer, gave many unique commands, but which 
always meant, "go for them boys", with Grimes in the lead. The 
8th Va. Cavalry, having arrived, occupietl the gap. The 16th was 
deployed and moved east along the top of the mountain. The 
Yankees dismounted a regiment and attempted to turn our right 
flank by crossing the mountain and striking our rear; but the 16th 
met them on the mountain lop, drove them down the mountain, thus 



and Southwest Virginia 



627 



throwing us on their left flank. Just at this time, Gen. Morgan, who 
had gone around the mountain west of the gap where the fight 
began, advanced on Averill's right flank. Seeing this, Averill began 
to withdraw, which he did in a most skillful manner, forming his 
regiments in Echelon, each one when driven back forming in the 
rear of the others, thus maintaining a stubborn resistance. But witli 
all his skill and bravery, night alone saved him from utter rout and 
capture. Averill lost many in killed and wounded, himself among 




Colonel William L. Graham was one of the most fearless soldiers 
and commanders that Tazewell County gave to the Confederate anny. 
He was a gi-andson of Colonel John Montgomery, who was a noted 
Indian fighter, and who served with George Rodgers Clark in the 
Illinois campaign. Colonel Gi'aham was not a trained military man, 
but a natural bom fighter and leader. He always led his men into 
battle, calling on them to "P'ollow Grimes." He was born near Chat- 
ham Hill, Smyth County, Virginia, in October, 1820, and died in 
April, 1908. 

the latter. The Confederates losses were very small. In this 
engagement about 2,500 men on each side took part, but I doubt 
if a more systematic and skillful fight took place during the Civil 
War. Averill retreated to the neighborhood of Blacksburg, where 
he joined Crook, who fell back to Meadow Bluff in Greenbrier 
County. After resting a few days, he moved along the C. & O. 
R. R., destrojang the same, and joined Hunter at Staunton. The 
united armies then began the advance on Lynchburg, by way of 
Lexington, Buchanan, Liberty, etc. McCausland, skirmishing at 



628 History of Tazewell County 

every point of vantage, burning bridges, bloeking roads, etc., so 
delayed tlie advance that P'-arly reached Lynchburg in time to 
save the city. On the 18th of June, Hunter became alarmed and 
commenced an ignominious retreat, fleeing through the mountains of 
West Virginia, to the Kanawha, thus leaving the way open for 
Early's advance on Washington City." 

BUHBRIDGE KAID AND BATTLE AT SALT WORKS. 

The fourth, and last. Federal raid through Tazewell County 
was under command of Brigadier General Stephen G. Burbridge; 
and was made in the last days of September and the first days of 
October, 1864. His object in making the expedition was to get to 
and destroy the Preston Salt Works, situated on the North Pork 
of Holston River, in Smyth County. From these works the Southern 
States were getting their principal supplies of salt. 

General Burbridge assembled an army of five thousand men at 
Pikeville, Kentucky. From that place he marched to the Louisa 
Fork of Big Sandy River, and up that stream to Grundy in 
Buchanan County. Then he proceeded up the Louisa River, using 
the Kentucky and Tazewell C. H. Turnpike, crossed the Dividing 
Ridge, and entered the Clinch Valley at the present village of 
Raven, in Tazewell County. He then moved up the Clinch, passing 
Richlands, and arrived at Cedar Bluff on the 30th of September. 
There he came in contact with a body of Confederates, mostly Ken- 
tuckians, who were commanded by that splendid soldier, Colonel 
Giltner, of Kentucky. Burbridge pressed on from Cedar Bluff 
toward the Salt Works, marching through the Cove, crossing Clinch 
and Little Brushy mountains, and passing through Laurel Gap. 
Giltner and his small force could do nothing more than place obstruc- 
tions across the roads and delay the advance of the Federals. 

Burbridge passed through Laurel Gap on Saturday evening, 
October 1st, 1864. Instead of pressing on to the Salt Works, where 
Giltner had gone and joined the Confederate forces, he encamped 
for the night in the river bottoms, just south of Laurel Gap, now 
owned by Thomas E. George. Some military critics have ventured 
the opinion that Burbridge committed a serious blunder by not 
rushing on to attack the Confederates in the night time, and before 
they received reinforcements. It is more than probable that the 
Federal General found his troops so exhausted by their long and 



and Southwest Virginia 629 

difficult marfh that lie deemed it safest to rest them before making 
an attack. 

On the morning of the 2nd of October, he broke camp and 
marched to the scene of battle, arriving there at about 9 :30 o'clock. 
About the same time General John S. Williams got to the Salt 
Works, bringing with him nearly a thousand men. The Confederate 
General had three thousand men, including seven hundred reserves 
from the counties of Tazewell, Washing-ton, Wythe, Grayson and 
Carx'oll. The reserves were men over forty-five years old and youths 
under eighteen. 

The Confederates had formed their line of battle along the tops, 
of the bluffs and clifTs on the south side of the North Fork of the 
Holston, reaching up the river from Buffalo Ford, and down the 
stream to where the chemical plant of the Mathieson Alkali Works 
is now located. When Burbridge arrived at 9:30 o'clock he 
promptly formed his lines on the north side of the river, fronting 
the Confederate forces, and the battle began about 10 o'clock. Each 
army was commanded by a Kentuckian, and both of the armies 
engaged were composed very largelj^ of Kentuckians. The battle 
was continued from 10 o'clock in the morning until sundown, when 
victory perched upon the banner of the Confederates. Summers in 
his history of Southwest Virginia, says: 

"The Federal loss in killed and wounded in this battle was about 
three hundred and fifty, the number of prisoners cajDtured is va- 
riously estimated at from three to twelve hundred. The Federals 
left upon the field one hundred and four white and one hundred 
and fifty-six negro soldiers. 

"The Confederate loss was eight killed and fifty-one wounded, 
among the killed being Colonel Trimble and Lieutenant Crutchfield, 
of the Tenth Kentucky Regiment." 

Among the reserves, who acted with great valor was one com- 
pany from Tazewell County, that were a part of the 13th Batta- 
lion of Virginia Reserves. That battalion was commanded by 
Colonel Robert Smith of Tazewell County, with Major Henry 
Smith of Russell County second in command, and was composed of 
the following companies : 

Company A, Smyth County, commanded by Captain Robert 
Brown. 



630 



History of Tazewell County 



Company B, Tazewell County, commanded by Captain Samuel I 
L. Graham. 

Company C, Washington County, commanded by Lieutenant J. 
S. Booher. 

Company I), Smyth County, commanded by Captain Kvan D. 
Richardson. 

Company F, Washington County, commanded by Captain Wil- 
liam Barrow. 




Colonel Robert Smith was born at Jacksboro, Tennessee, March 
1st, 1819. In 1839 he married Miss Dorinda Cecil, daughter of Samuel 
Cecil, and took up his residence in Tazewell County in 1848. He was 
commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 13th Battalion, Virginia 
Reserves, in 1864, and commanded that battalion at the battle of 
Saltville on October 2nd, 1864, where he and his men won fame for 
their gallantry. In 1871, Colonel Smith moved with his family to 
California, where he died at a venerable age in December, 1899. 



Company G, Russell County, commanded by Captain A. P. 
Gilmer. 

Company H, commanded by Captain George E. Starnes. 

Company I, Washington County, commanded by Captain Thomas 
E. Patterson. 

The 13th Battalion Iield the line in front of the residence of 
"Governor" (James) Sanders. Every attack made by the Federals 
was repelled, and the battalion did such valiant service that Sum- 
mers, writing about the part the reserves took in the battle, says: 



and Southwest Virginia 631 

"It was tliouglit at the time that the bravery exhibited in this 
contest by the reserves from Southwest Virginia was equal to the 
bravery exhibited by the citizens of this county at King's Mountain 
in 1780." 

Burbridge began to retreat very soon after the battle was ended ; 
and returned to Kentucky b}^ the same route he had used in making 
the advance to the Salt Works. 



After four years of heroic struggle and awful sacrifice the 
depleted armies of the Confederacy were compelled to ground their 
arms and furl the "Stars and Bars." 

Tazewell County had sent forth nearly two thousand of her best 
and bravest sons to do service for their country. Many of them 
had fallen on battle fields, and were resting in heroes graves ; many 
had been maimed and physically impaired for life ; others were in 
Federal prisons and their home-coming was delayed; but those who 
were still fit returned speedily to their homes and dear ones. It 
was not a land made desolate by the iron-hoof of war to which they 
returned. The rich soil, gushing springs and beautiful streams the 
pioneers found when they came to the Clinch Valley were still 
here. It was springtime when the Tazewell soldiers got back home. 
The pastures on the hills and mountain sides, and the meadows along 
the streams were carpeted with that exquisite verdure which had 
made and still makes Tazewell almost world-famous. The returned 
soldiers went earnestly to work to furtlier develop and beautify the 
land they had inherited from the pioneer fathers and mothers. 
How faithfully they and their sons have performed that service is 
now to be seen on every hand. 

RECONSTRUCTION AND REORGANIZATION OF COUNTY GOVERNMENT. 

Upon the downfall of the Confederate States, the State govern- 
ment of Virginia, that had been exercising at the capitol govern- 
mental functions during the war, was necessarily overthrown. 
Francis H. Peirpont had been elected Governor of Virginia on tlie 
20th of June, 1861, by a bogus convention tliat assembled at Wheel- 
ing. He established his seat of government at Wheeling; and kept 
it there until the State of West Virginia was admitted to the Union 
and the government of the new State was organized. On the 20th 



632 History of Tazewell County 

of June, 1863, Governor Peirpont removed his seat of government to 
Alexandria. And, on the 9th of May, 1865, Andrew Johnson, Presi- 
dent of the United States, issued a proclamation recognizing Peir- 
pont as Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

In this proclamation. President Johnson ordered: "That all 
acts and proceedings of the political, military, and civil organiza- 
tions which have been in a state of insurrection and rebellion within 
the State of Virginia, against the authority and the laws of the 
United States, and of which Jefferson Davis, John Letcher, and 
William Smith were late the respective chiefs, are declared null 
and void. All persons who shall exercise, claim, pretend or attempt 
to exercise any political, military or civil power, authority, juris- 
diction or right, by, through or under Jefferson Davis, late of the 
city of Richmond, and his confederates, or under John Letcher or 
William Smith, or civil commission or authority issued by them or 
either of tliem, since the 17th day of April, 1861, shall be deemed 
and taken as in rebellion against the United States, and shall be 
dealt with accordingly." The President also declared that the 
Federal Government would aid Governor Peirpont, "in the lawful 
measures which he may take for the extension and administration 
of the State government throughout the geograjDhical limits of the 
said State." 

Following the issuance of President Johnson's proclamation. 
Governor Peirpont, with his executive officers, removed the seat of 
government from Alexandria to Richmond, and occupied the gov- 
ernor's mansion and the capitol. The first entry in the Executive 
Journal was made on the 23rd of May, 1865, and is as follows: 

"His Excellency the governor, in pursuance of the authority in 
him vested by the laws of the Commonwealth, and upon due informa- 
tion of the suppression of insurrection and domestic violence within 
the limits of the Commonwealtli, ordered that the seat of government 
be restored to and re-established at tlie city of Richmond, from and 
after this date, and issued his proclamation accordingly." 

By the mandate of tlie President's proclamation, every civil 
office in Virginia — State, county, and municipal— became vacant; 
and it was incumbent upon Governor Peirpont to see that all such 
offices were refilled Avith capable men. 

The last term of the county court of Tazewell, wliile the Con- 



and Southwest Virginia 633 

federacy was in existence, was held on March 1st, 1865. S. W. 
Cecil presided, and the other justices sitting were, W. H. Buchanan 
and S. F. Watts. For nearly seven months thereafter the county 
was without anj^ court or county officers ; but the affairs of the 
county remained as orderly as when the pioneers lived here without 
any justices or constables to maintain order. 

The first term of the county court, held under the restored, or 
Peirpont, government was on the 27th of September, 1865; and the 
first orders entered were the following: 

"Be it remembered that on this the 27th day of September, in 
the year 1865, at Tazewell Court House appeared William O. Yost, 
William H. Buchanan, Adam Hedrick, Rees B. Higginbotham, 
Reizin R. Steel, Samuel H. Chiddix, Joseph C. Brown, Mark T. 
Lockhart, James Hankins, Henry Hunt, Jonathan Smith, Hugh D. 
Dudley, James Davis, Granville Jones, and David G. Yost, who pre- 
sented commissions from F. H. Peirpont, Governor of Virginia, as 
justices of the peace for said county from this day till the 1st day 
of August, 1868, who took and subscribed the oath prescribed by 
the Constitution and the oath of office before Washington Spotts, 
one of the Commissioners appointed by said Governor for the said 
county of Tazewell." 

William O. Yost was elected presiding justice for the term to 
expire the 1st day of August, 1868. 

Rees B. Gillespie, who had been elected sheriff on the 17th day 
of August, 1865, by the qualified voters of the county, qualified 
to serve from the 27th day of August, 1865, until the 1st of 
January, 1867. 

Sterling F. Watts, who had been elected at the same election as 
Commonwealth's Attorney for Tazewell County, qualified by taking 
the necessary oaths. 

Rees B. Gillespie, sheriff of the county, appointed H. R. Bogle, 
William Hankins and INIathias Harrisson his deputies, and they 
qualified as such. 

David A. Daughtery, who had been elected Commissioner of 
Revenue for District No. 1, and Charles J. McDowell, who had been 
elected Commissioner of Revenue for District No. 2, appeared and 
qualified. 

Simon W. Young, William Hankins, James Allen, and Ransom S. 



634 History of Tazewell County 

Dudley qualified as constables; and Thomas E. Crabtree qualified 
as overseer of the poor. 

James W. Thompson, who had been elected clerk of the county 
at the election in August, qualified— his term of office to extend 
until the 30th of June, 1870. 

Thus was the county government of Tazewell reorganized with- 
out any carpetbag element in it. 

The President of the United States having, by proclamation, 
declared the government of Virginia restored, an election was held 
in the fall of 1865 to elect members of the General Assembly; and 
George W. Deskins was elected as the representative of Tazewell 
County. At the session held during the winter of 1865-66 the 
General Assembly proceeded to elect the various State officers and 
to enact such laws as were made necessary by the results of the war. 

The Fourteenth Amendment was passed by Congress in July, 
1866, and its ratification by tlie Southern States was made a condi- 
tion precedent to their readmission to the Union. The Amendment 
wa^ indignantly rejected by the Legislature of every Southern 
State, except Tennessee. In the Virginia Legislature, at the ses- 
sion of 1866-67, only one member voted for its acceptance. The 
rejection of the Amendment gave Thad Stevens and his radical 
associates in Congress rare opportunity to vent their hatred for the 
unhappy South. They began immediately to formulate their Recon- 
struction measures. 

On the 2nd of March, 1867, Congress passed an act which pro- 
vided for establishing military governments in the "rebel States". 
Under its operation Virginia was designated "Military District No. 
1." The act also provided that the people of the "rebel States" 
should frame acceptable constitutions and adopt the Fourteenth 
Amendment before they could have representation in Congress ; and 
the act further provided: "That until the people of any of said 
States shall be by law admitted to repi'csentation in Congress, any 
civil government which may exist therein shall be deemed provisional 
only, and in all respects subject to the paramount authority of the 
United States, at any time, to abolish, modify, control or supersede 
the same." 

The act of March 2nd, 1867, also provided for the election of 
members to a convention to frame a constitution for Virginia, and 
authorized the voters of the State to vote for or against a convention 



and Southwest Virginia 635 

to form a constitution. An election was held on the 3rd of Decem- 
ber, 1867, a convention was voted for by a majority of the people, 
and delegates elected thereto. Colonel James Milton French, of 
Bland County, was elected to represent Tazewell and Bland counties 
in the convention. The convention met at Richmond on the 3rd of 
December, 1867, and framed what has since been known by the 
name of the "Underwood Constitution." 

Thereupon, Congress passed an act on the 10th of April, 1869, 
authorizing the submission of the Constitution of Virginia to the 
people for ratification or rejection, and provided for the election of 
State officers and members of Congress at the same election. The 
act also prescribed that the President of the United States should 
submit the Constitution to the people of Virginia at such time as 
he deemed best, and should also submit to a separate vote such 
provisions of said Constitution as he deemed best. 

There were several clauses of the Constitution that were obnox- 
ious to all the white people and many of the negroes of the State; 
and President Grant ordered that the obnoxious clauses, each, be 
submitted separately. He issued a proclamation on the l-ith of 
May, 1869, ordering that the election for ratification or rejection of 
the Constitution be held on the 6th of July, 1869. The election 
was held at the designated time, and the Constitution was adopted, 
the affirmative vote being 210,655, and the negative vote 9,136. 
The obnoxious clauses were rejected by a majority of more than 
forty thousand votes. », 

At this same election Gilbert C. Walker was elected Governor 
of Virginia, John F. Lewis, Lieutenant Governor; and James C. 
Taylor, Attorney General. Governor Walker was inaugurated on 
the 21st of September, 1869; and the General Assembly, elected 
under the Constitution, met at the capitol on the 5th of October, 
1869. On the 8th of October the Legislature ratified and adopted 
both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution 
of the United States. In this manner civil government was restored 
in Virginia, and the State again became a member of the Federal 
Union. 

In the meantime, while the State was under military rule, the 
terms of the justices who were ajopointed by Governor Peirpont, 
and who constituted the county court for Tazewell County, had 
expired. General George Stoneman, who was then in command of 



636 



History of Tazewell County 



Military District No. 1^ appointed a new list of justices. The new 
court held its first term on the 31st of March^ 1869, when the 
following business was transacted, as shown by the order book of 
the court: 

"Be it remembered that on the 31st day of March, in the year 
1869, at Tazewell Court House, in the County of Tazewell, appeared 
Henry F. Hunt, Jacob VVimmer, William T. Doak, James Albert, 
Crockett Stump, Jeptha Fallen, John G. Prater, George T. Falkner. 
William B. Yost, William J. Tabor, Absalom J. Hall and William 
Lester," who severally produced commissions from Bre't. General 




Captain Henry Bowen was the most distinguished son of Tazewell, 
certainly the most highly honored by his people. He was bom at 
Maiden Spring on December 26th, 1815, and died in view of the old 
homestead — the place of his nativity, on the 29th day of April, 
1915. In May, 1861, he entered the service of tiie Confederate 
States as a member of the "Tazewell Troopers;" and at the age of 
twenty-one became captain of that gallant company, and led it in 
the frequent battles in which it was engaged until he was captured 
at the battle of Winchester in September, 1864. In this battle Taze- 
well lost several of her brave boys. Captain Bowen's distinction in 
civil life began when he was elected to represent Tazewell County in 
the Virginia General Assembly in 1869. He sei-ved at the sessions of 
1869-70 and 1870-71; and had the distinction of being a member of the 
General Assembly that restored Virginia to the Union by the adoption 
of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Federal Consti- 
tution. In 1882 he was elected to Congress by the Readjusters, as 
the representative of the Ninth Congressional District. And again 
in 1886 he was elected a member of Congress by the Republican Party. 
Upon his retirement from Congress, he returned to the vocation of 
his pioneer ancestors — that of grazier and fanner — which noble calling 
he followed to the end of his life. 



and Southwest Virginia 637 

George Stoneman, Commanding the Military District of Virginia, 
who took and subscribed to the oath prescribed by the Congress of 
the United States by act passed the 2nd day of July, 1868, before 
Henry F. Hunt a justice of the peace for said County, and a 
majority of the justices being present they proceeded to election 
of one of their body for presiding justice, and Henry F. Hunt was 
declared duly elected presiding justice of this Court." 

David Lester, who had been appointed by General Stoneman 
sheriff of Tazewell County, qualified as such. 

Rees B. Gillespie, who had been appointed clerk, qualified. 
John G. Lester qualified as Commissioner of Revenue for Dis- 
trict No. 1, and John S. Moore qualified as Commissioner of Revenue 
for District No. 2. 

Mathias H. Beavers qualified as constable for District No. 1, 
and Rees B. Lester qualified as constable for District No. 2. 

The justices and county officers that were appointed by General 
Stoneman served for one year. Lender the provisions of the Under- 
wood Constitution the old county court system was abolished; and 
the last term of that court was held in Tazewell County on the 
30th of March, 1870. James P. Kelly was elected judge of the 
county court of Tazewell by the General Assembly at its session of 
1869-70. 

The first term of the county court of Tazewell, under the new 
system, was begun on the 27th day of April, 1870, wfth Judge 
James P. Kelly presiding. 

Rees B. Gillespie was appointed clerk of the court, Henry C. 
Alderson was appointed Commonwealth's Attorney, and Charles A. 
Fudge was appointed sheriff of tlie county. He appointed Hamilton 
R. Bogle, Alexander St. Clair, F. P. Spotts, and William H. Bar- 
nett his deputies. All of these were qualified by the court and 
entered immediately upon the duties of their respective offices. It 
was necessary for Judge Kelly to make these temporary appoint- 
ments ; and the several appointees served until their successors were 
elected by the voters of the county. 

The despised military rule under abhorred Reconstruction was 
thus completely terminated in Tazewell County. This county, 
however, had escaped the evils of the much hated carpetbag govern- 
ment, for during the entire Reconstruction period the affairs of the 
county were administered by men who were "natives here and to 
the manner born." 



638 History of Tazewell County 



APPENDIX TO WAR AND RECON- 
STRUCTION PERIOD 



Containing the Names of Tazewell Men Who Served 

as Field and Company Officers In the 

Confederate Army 

LIST OF FIELD AND COMPANY OFFICERS. 

It was my intention to lorocure for publication rolls of the 
twenty companies from Tazewell County that were in the service of 
the Confederate States. This scheme has been impossible of accom- 
plishment; as very few of the rolls have been preserved. Only four 
or five have been obtained, and these are two few to publish. 

' A friend of the author informed him that valuable information 
about the Confederate soldiers from Tazewell County could be 
secured from 'Squire S. M. Graham, son of the gallant Colonel Wil- 
liam L. Graham. From Mr. Graham I have received information 
of great value. He has furnished it in such excellent form that I 
will make no alterations, but publish as it came from his pen. It 
is as follows: 

Graham, Va., Jan. 8th, 1919. 
Col. W. C. Pendleton, 
Marion, Va. 
Dear Colonel: 

I have just received your letter of the 6th inst., asking for 
information as to the companies organized in Tazewell County, that 
served in the Confederate Army. I regret that I cannot give you 
all the information you desire. I remember well all the Field 
Officers and Captains that went from this county into the Confed- 
erate Army ; but I cannot recall the Lieutenants — some of them I 
remember, but very few. 

I have no record of these companies, nor the officers, except a 
short one, I compiled from memory about two years ago. 

T-liere were twenty companies organized in Tazewelt County, 



and Southwest Virginia 



639 



that served in the Confederate Army — ten companies of infantry 
and ten companies of cavalry. 

The first four companies were organized early in the spring of 
1861, and were incorporated in the 45th Regiment Va. Inf, as 
Companies A, G, H, and K. Joseph Harrisson was the first Cap- 




Colonel Joseph Harrisson was among the first of Tazewell's sons to 
enter the sei-vice of the Confederate States as a soldier. He was 
elected captain of Company A, 45th Regiment, Virginia Infantry, in 
May, 1861, and served as captain of that company until the spring of 
1862. For the remainder of the war he was continually engaged in 
other branches of the service. Colonel Harrisson was bom within 
the present limits of the town of Tazewell in 1830, and died here in 
1905. He was a man of undaunted coui*age and was an excellent 
soldier. 

tain of Co. A. He served until the spring of 1862. John Thomp- 
son was the second Captain and served until the end of the war. 
William Browne was the first Captain of Co. G. He served as 
Captain until the spring of 1862, when he became Colonel of the 
regiment. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Piedmont in 
June, 1861. He was a West Pointer, and an accomplished officer. 
After the promotion of Colonel Browne, James S. Peery became 
Captain of Co. G. He was captured at tlie battle of Piedmont and 
was not released from prison until the war ended. 

Edwin Harman was the first Captain of Co. H. Robt. H. Tay- 
lor 1st. Lieutenant, C. A. Fudge, 2nd Lieutenant and Armour Bailey, 
3rd Lieutenant. In the spring of 1862 Captain Harman became 



640 



History of Tazewell County 



Lieutenant Colonel of the 15th Reg. and was mortally wounded at 
the battle of Cloyd's Farm in May, 18(M. Wlicn promoted to Lieu. 
Col. he was sueceeded as Captain of Co. H. by Charles A. Fudge. 
Capt. Fudge was desperately wounded and captured at the battle 
of Piedmont in June^, 1864-, and was not released from prison until 
the end of the war. He never fully recovered from the wound. 
Lieutenant Bailey remained with the company until the end of the 




Colonel Titus Vespasian Williams was bom in Tazewell County, 
June 2nd, 1835, and died at the home of his son, Emmett, at Valena, 
Iowa, on May 7th, 1908. He graduated at the Virginia Military Insti- 
tute on July 4th, 1859. In the fall of 1859 he opened an academy at 
JefFersonville and was conducting that school when Virginia seceded 
from the Union in 1861. He immediately organized a company of 
volunteers which entei'ed the service of the Confederacy, with him as 
captain, and was attached to the 45th Regiment, Virginia Infantry. 
Very soon after entering the service he was promoted to the rank of 
major and transferred to the 37th Virginia Infantry. For gallant 
conduct in the seven days battle below Richmond, in 1862, he was 
promoted to colonel of the 37th Regiment and remained its com- 
mander until the close of the war. Colonel Williams was a splendid 
soldier and received wounds in several engagements. 

war. Lieutenant Taylor resigned and afterward became a captain 
in the cavalry service. 

Titus V. Williams was the first Captain of Co. K. He was a 
graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, and soon after his 
election to the eaptainc}' of Co. K he was promoted to the rank of 
Major and was transferred to the 37th Regiment Va. Inf. After 



and Southwest Virginia 



641 



the seven days battle around Richmond, in the summer of 1862, 
he was promoted to Colonel of the 37th Regiment and commanded 
it until the end of the war. He was wounded in two or three dif- 
ferent engagements. After the promotion of Captain Williams, 
John H. Whitley, who was 1st. Lieutenant of Co. K, became Cap- 
tain. He served until the reorganization, in the spring of 1862. 




Colonel Edwin Houston Hannan was born February 13th, 1835, 
in the Bluestone Valley, Tazewell County. He was the son of Erastus 
Granger HaiTnan, one of the fust-bom generation of that section of 
the county. On the 2nd of April, 1861, he was married to Miss Jennie 
King at the bride's home on Back Creek, Pulaski County, Virginia; 
and a few days thereafter entered the sei-vice of the Confederate 
States as captain of Company A, 45th Regiment, Virginia Infantry. 
In the spring of 1862 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 
regiment. He was a daring and accomplished soldier and officer; and 
it was strangely decreed by fate that he should fall in battle but a 
few miles distant from the place where he won his bride three years 
previously. On the 9th of May, 1864, Colonel Harman was mortally 
wounded at the battle of Cloytl's Mountain, and died from the wound 
two days later. His dust now rests in a heroe's grave in Thorn Spring 
Cemetery, about six miles west of where he fell in battle. 



He was succeeded by Captain Henry Yost, who commanded the 
company until the end of the war. Captain Whitley, after leaving 
the 45th Regiment, became a Lieutenant in Co. I, 16th Reg. Va. 
Cav., and served in that capacity until the battle of Monocacy in 
July, 1864, where he was captured. He remained a prisoner until 
the war ended. 
T.H.— 41 



642 History of Tazewell County 

The 45th Regiment Va. Inf. was a fine body of troops, but was 
cut to pieces by overwhelming numbers at Cloyd's Farm in May, 
1864, and in the following June was almost annihilated at the 
battle of Piedmont. 

The next company organized in Tazewell was a cavalry com- 
pany, known through the war as the "Tazewell Troopers." This 
company was organized in the spring of 1861, and became Co. H, 
8th Reg. Va. Cav. John C. McDonald was the first Captain. He 
served a few months and resigned. He was succeeded by Geo. W. 
Spotts who served a short time and resigned on account of ill 
health. T. P. Bowen succeeded Captain Spotts and served until 
he was promoted to major about the beginning of the year 1863. 
Captain T. P. Bowen was succeeded by his brother Henry Bowen, 
who served until he was captured near Winchester, in the fall of 
1864. He was not released from prison until the war was ended. 
The Lieutenants of this company, serving the last year of the war, 
were 1st Lieutenant Abbott, of Raleigh County, West Virginia, 2nd 
Lieut. Joseph S. Moss; 3rd Lieut. Austin Peck, Mercer Count}', 
West Virginia. There were quite a number of Mercer County men 
who joined this company after its organization and served in it 
until the end of the war. 

In May, 1861, there were three other companies of infantry 
organized, one of which became Co. C, 50th Regiment Va. Inf. 
This company was commanded by Captain Frank Kelly throughout 
the war. John D. Greever of Burke's Garden was a Lieutenant in 
this company and beyond all question it passed through a greater 
number of big battles than any other company from this county. 
They fought from Fort Donelson to Appomattox. Captain Kelly 
and the most of the 50th Regiment were captured a short time 
before the war ended. 

The cajDtains of the otlier two companies were W. P. Cecil and 
D. B. Baldwin. These companies were attached to the 23rd Bat- 
talion, Va. Inf., afterwards known as "Derrick's Battalion". Bald- 
win's Company was Co. D, and Cecil's Company Co. C. Capt. Cecil 
was promoted to major of the battalion and was succeeded as cap- 
tain by George Gose. Major Cecil and Captain Gose both resigned 
in the spring of 1862. Captain Gose was succeeded by F. M. Peery. 
Both Captain Baldwin and Captain Peery served until the end of 
the war. Oscar Barns and James H. Gillespie and William Witten 



and Southwest Virginia 



643 



were lieutenants in Baldwin's company. H. G. Peery was a lieu- 
tenant in Peery's company and had command of the Sharp Shooters 
of the battalion. 

In the early spring of 1862, there were four more companies 
organized. Two of these companies were attached to the 29th Regi- 
ment, Va. Inf. as Co. I and Co. H. Co. I was commanded by Cap- 



I 




Captain D. B. Baldwin was born at Christiansburg, Virginia, in 
August, 1832, and died at Bluefield, W. Va., in August, 1916. He 
came to Tazewell in 1857, and for more than twenty years was one of 
the most active and popular citizens of the county. In May, 1861, he 
entered the Confederate ai-my as captain of Company D, 23rd Bat- 
talion, Virginia Infantry, and served faithfully and gallantly in that 
capacity until the war was ended. Captain Baldwin located at Blue- 
field, West Virginia, in 1885, when that now thriving city was nothing 
more than a village; and from that time until a brief while before 
his death he was actively engaged in the real estate business. He 
accomplished much in the way of boosting Bluefield, where his 
memory is cherished by many devoted friends. 

tain Thomas Peery and Co. H by Captain Ebenezer Brewster. Cap- 
tain Brewster was promoted to major and was succeeded as captain 
by William Hankins. Both Captain Hankins and Captain Peery 
served until the end of the war. 

The other two companies were organized as Independent Par- 
tizan Rangers. One of them was commanded by Captain William L. 
Graham and the other by Captain Elias V. Harman. The lieute- 
anats in Graham's Company were: 1st, W. E. Peery; 2nd, Joshua 



644 



History of Tazewell County 



Day; 3rd, John Woods. In Harman's: 1st, D. H. Harman ; 2nd, 
D. G. Sayers. These companies rendered valuable service to Taze- 
well County during the summer of 1862 by disorganizing, exterm- 
inating or driving away bands of freebooters that infested some of 
the border counties. In the fall of 1862, Captain Graham's com- 
pany was divided into two companies and attached to the 16th 
Regiment Va. Cavalry as Co. F. and Company I. Captain Graham 
was made Lieut. Colonel of the regiment. He was wounded near 




Captain John H. Whitley entered the service of the Confederacy 
as first lieutenant of Co. K, 45th Virginia Infantry, in May, 1861. 
Owing to the promotion of the captain of the company, Lieutenant 
Whitley wa.s niatle its captain a few month.s after he went into sei-vice; 
and he sensed in that capacity until the spring of 1862. He then 
joined the cavalry as a lieutenant in Co. T, 16th Virginia Cavalry; and 
served as such until he was captured at the battle of Monocacy in 
July, 1864. He was kept in prison until the end of the war. Captain 
Whitley was born January 1st, 1842, and died September 17th, 1918. 

Winchester in June, 1863, and captured in Moorefield Aug. 7th, 
1864, and was not exchanged until a few days before Gen. Lee 
surrendered. 

Lieutenant W. E. Peery was made captain of Co. I. His lieuten- 
ants were Joshua Day (afterwards resigned), J. H. Whitley, John 
Woods, Samuel Thompson (killed in Maryland, summer of 1864) 
and Ferdinand Dunn. Captain W. E. Peery lost his right arm and 
was captured at the battle of Boonesboro, ]\Id.. in June, 1863. He 
was imprisoned on Johnson's Island until March, 1865. The com- 



and Southwest Virginia 



645 



pany was commanded by one of the lieutenants until the end of the 
war. 

Robt. H. Taylor was made Captain of Co. F. The lieutenants 
were William Bailey, J. H. Flummer and W. H. H. Witten. Cap- 
tain Taylor served with the company until July, 1864, when he dis- 
appeared and did not return. The company was commanded by 
Lieutenant Wm. Bailey until the end of the war. 




Captain Jonathan Hankins was bom in Tazewell County in 1840, 
and died April 8th, 1894. He organized a company of cavalry in the 
summer of 1862, and in the fall of that year his company was attached 
to the 16th Regiment, Virginia Cavalry. Captain Hankins commanded 
the company until the war ended, and was an excellent officer and 
soldier. 



In the fall of 1862, Captain E. V. Harman, being past military 
age, resigned. His company, together with some State Line troops, 
was divided into three companies and attached to the 37th Battalion 
Virginia Cavalry, known as "Witcher's Battalion." Captain David 
G. Sayers, Capt. John Yost and Captain Crockett Harrisson (son 
of Sandy Joe) commanded these companies. D. H. Harman was 
1st Lieutenant in Sayers' company. Some of the men in these 
companies lived in McDowell and Buchanan counties. 

Another company was organized in the summer of 1862, and that 
fall it was attached as Co. C, to the 16th Regiment Va. Cav. 
Jonathan Hankins was Captain and served through the war. The 



646 History of Tazewell County 

lieutenants were Julius C. Williams, Milburn Linkous and Milburn 
Barrett. 

There were three companies of cavalry organized in the sum- 
mer of 1863. Two of these companies formed a part of the 22nd 
Regiment Va. Cav. and were commanded, respectively, by Captains 
Balaam Higginbotham and W. W. Brown. Both of these captains 
served until the end of the war. Jesse Bailey was a lieutenant in 
Brown's company. The other company formed a part of the 10th 
Reg. Ky. Cavalry, and was commanded by Captain Elias G. W. 
Harman until the end of the war. 

There was a company organized in the spring of 1864, com- 
posed of boys between the ages of seventeen and eighteen years 
and men between the ages of forty-five and fifty. This company 
formed a part of the 13th Battalion Va. Reserves Inf. and was 
commanded by Captain Samuel L. Graham. The 13th Battalion Va. 
Reserves was commanded by Lt. Col. Robt. Smith, of Tazewell 
County. This battalion became famous at the first battle of Salt- 
ville, fought Oct. 2nd, 1864. They held their ground, with the grim 
determination of seasoned veterans, against many savage attacks 
of the enemy. They received great praise for their heroic conduct 
from the veterans engaged in that battle. The conduct of this 
company is specially mentioned because it was composed of boys 
and old men who had never been under fire before and had but 
very little military training. John Rutherford was 1st Lieutenant 
in this company. 

After tlie fall of Fort Donelson, General John B. Floyd retired 
from the regular Confederate Army. The State of Virginia com- 
missioned him Brigadier General of State Troops, and authorized 
him to raise a bi'igade fi-om the classes not included in the conscript 
laws of the Confederate Government. Pursuant to this authority 
he organized a Battalion of Infantry as a nucleus to the brigade. 
This battalion was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Houn- 
shell, wlio was at that time a citizen of Tazewell County, and had 
been major of the Slst Reg. Va. Inf. This battalion was encamped 
at Wytlieville for some time, in the latter part of the summer of 
1862. They moved from Wytheville to this county and encamped 
for about a month in Abb's Valley. This battalion was composed 
of men from most all the European nations and men from every 
section of the United States. It was truly a motley crew, the 



and Southwest Virginia 



647 



equal, in that respect, to the French Foreign Legion. Some of the 
greatest criminals of the time were in it. Elegantly refined and 
highly educated gentlemen were there — two nephews of President 
Jefferson Davis, the Balfour boys, were captains in this battalion. 
Some of these men had been with Walker on his ill-fated expedi- 
tion to Nicaraugua. Some of them had been soldiers in the last 
war between France and Austria, and most all of them, had 
belonged to Wheat's famous battalion, the "Louisiana Tigers." This 




Captain James S. Peery was the son of Harvey George Peery, 
and grandson of Thomas Peery, the pioneer. He was bom June 6th, 
1837, and died September 7th, 1905. In May, 1861, he entered the 
Confederate service as first lieutenant of Co. G, 45th Virginia Infantry; 
and in the spring of 1862 became captain of that company. Captain 
Peery was captured by the Federals at the battle of Piedmont, June 
5th, 1864, and was confined as a prisoner at Johnson's Island until 
the conclusion of the war. 

battalion had disintegrated since the death of their commander, 
Colonel Wheat, and the most of them had joined this State Line 
Battalion. 

From Abb's Valley the battalion moved down the Tug Fork of 
Big Sandy to a point below Warfield and fought, successfully, some 
small battles while on this expedition. In the meantime there was 
great activity in organizing a battalion of State Line troops in 
Tazewell County. Several companies were enrolled, captains and • 
lieutenants elected. These companies were organized into a bat- 
talion. But about the time of the organization the conscript laws 



648 



History of Tazewell County 



of the Confederate Government were extended so as to include all 
the men in the State Line service, and it was reported that the men 
of this battalion scattered^ in every direction, from their enr-amp- 
ment, the first night after its organization. The sole result of this 
organization was the dissemination of numerous empty military 
titles. The men^ who had joined this battalion, were absorbed by 
different regiments in the regular Confederate Army, 




Captain A. J. Tynes was not a native of Tazewell County, but was 
living there when the Civil War began. He entered the sei'vice of 
the Confederacy as a member of the Tazewell Troopers and served 
with that company until he was commissioned captain in the Field 
Commissai-y Department and attached to McCausland's Brigade, 
Captain Tynes was with his brigade in a number of campaigns and was 
with it at Petersbui"g and at Appomattox. He was bom in Campbell 
County, Virginia, Nov. 29th, 1833, and died at Tazewell on Nov. 11th, 
1914. 



I have never made any effort to post myself as to the officers 
of this State Line liattalion, from the fact that they saw no service, 
while in this organization, to entitle them to be classed as soldiers. 

In the spring of 1864- there was organized at Falls Mills a 
Home Guard company, composed of boys from 15 to 17 years of 
age, and men from 50 to 65 years old. This was done to protect 
the communit}^ against threatened invasions and outrages. Two 
Union Home Guard companies had been organized and were operat- 
ing in the counties of McDowell and Wyoming. These companies 



and Southwest Virginia 



649 



were a constant menace to the neighborhoods of Abb's Valley and 
Falls Mills. There were no regular Confederate soldiers left in 
that section of the county and these Union Home Guards had already 
committed several serious outrages on defenceless families, so it 
was up to the old men and the boys of the neighborhood to put on a 
bold front or else tamely submit to being robbed by a gang of 
cowardly thieves. 




Captain John Thompson was a great-grandson of William 
Thompson, and was bom in Thompson Valley, July 8th, 1837. He 
enlisted in the Confederate aiTny in May, 1861, as a lieutenant in Co. 
A, 45th Virginia Infantry; and in the spring of 1862 was made cap- 
tain of the company. He commanded that company in all subsequent 
campaigns until he was captured by the Federals in the Valley of 
Virginia in the spring of 1865; and was confinetl at Fort Delaware 
until June, 1865. Captain Thompson was elected Sheriff of Tazewell 
County in 1867; and moved to California in 1870, where he died in 
February, 1882. 

About 30 old men and boys met at Falls Mills and obligated 
themselves in the most solemn manner to defend the communities 
of Abb's Valley and Falls Mills against invasion by these Union 
Home Guards. Dr. R. W. Witten, an ex-army surgeon, was elected 
Captain, James H. Tabor, 1st Lieutenant, Theopholis Arms, 2nd 
Lieutenant, Isaac O'Donnell, 3rd Lieutenant, W. Scott Witten, 
Orderlj^ Sergeant. These officers did not ask for commissions from 
the government, nor did they ask that the company be recognized as 
an organization of the Confederate Army. They realized that the 



650 



History of Tazewell County 



Confedei-ate Army was unable to protect them, so they determined 
to protect themselves, and the results show how well this company 
performed its duties. There was not another robbery committed 
by those Home Guards near Falls Mills or Abb's Valley until after 
the war ended. About a week after the wai ended, one of these 
Union Home Guard companies appeared, just at daylight, in the 




Captain James P. Whitman is the only Tazewell man now sur- 
viving who held the rank of captain in the Confederate army. At the 
beginning of the war he was a student at the academy of Col. Titus 
V. Williams at Jeffei-sonville, and was made a lieutenant in Company 
K, 45th Virginia Infantry, of which company Col. Williams was the 
first captain. Captain Whitman served as a lieutenant until the spring 
of 1862, when he enlisted as a private in the cavalry company of 
Capt. Wm. E. Peery, which later became a part of the 16th Virginia 
Cavalry as Company I. He was made adjutant of this regiment, and 
served as such until the end of the war. He was at Gettysburg, and 
in all the campaigns in which his regiment participated, including the 
retreat from Petersburg and the surrender at Appomattox. His 
sui'viving comrades pronounce him a daring and faithful soldier. 
Captain Whitman is the present Inspector General of the Grand Camp 
of Virginia Confederate Veterans. 



mouth of Abb's Valley, at the homes of Wm. H. Witten and John 
Calfee. Tliey took 10 or 12 horses and robbed the homes of all 
the household phmder they could carry away, and then made their 
escape as rapidly as possible. The Falls Mills company, before 
the war ended, had made several efforts to get in contact with this 
Union Home Guard Company, but was never able to catch up with it. 



and Southwest Virginia 651 

LIST OF FIELD OFFICERS AND OTHER REGIMENTAL OFFICERS FROM 
TAZEWELL COUNTY, WHO SERVED IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

T. V. Williams, Colonel, 37th Regiment Va. Infantry, wounded 

1862-3. 

Henry Bowen, Colonel, 22nd Regiment Va. Cavalry. 

William Browne, Colonel, 45th Regiment Va. Infantry, killed 

Piedmont, 1864. 

A. J. May, Colonel, 10th Regiment Ky. Cavalry. 

Edwin Harman, Lieutenant Colonel, 45th Regiment Va. Infan- 
try, killed Cloyd's Farm, 1864. 

W. L. Graham, Lieutenant Colonel, 16th Regiment Va. Cavalry, 
wounded 1863, captured 1864. 

Stuart Hounshell, LieutenanL Colonel, 51st Regiment Va. Infan- 
try and Floyd's State Line Battalion. 

Robt. Smith, Lieutenant Colonel, 13th Battalion Va. Infantry 

Reserves. 

T. P. Bowen, Major, 8th Regiment Va. Cavalry. 
Ebenezer Brewster, Major, 29th Regiment Va. Infantry. 
W. P. Cecil, Major, 23rd Battalion Va. Infantry. 
E. A. Holmes, Major, Staff Officer, captured 1864. 
Rufus Brittain, Adjutant, 29th Regiment Va. Infantry. 
J. P. Whitman, Adjutant, 16th Regiment Va. Cavalry. 
Eli Steel, Adjutant, 22nd Regiment Va. Cavalry, killed 1864. 
A. J. Tynes, Captain, Field Comissary Dept., McCausland's 
Brigade. 

Dr. W. P. Floyd, Surgeon. 
Dr. J. M. Estill, Surgeon. 
Dr. Jas Peery, Surgeon. 
Dr. Thos. Cecil, Surgeon. 

A. J. May was a resident of Prestonburg, Kentucky, at the time 
the war began. He joined the 5th Kentucky Infantry at Preston- 
burg, and became Lt. Col. of the regiment. This regiment remained 
in the infantry service until late in the fall of 1862, when, from 
some cause, it was disbanded. The most of the men who had 
belonged to this regiment were organized into the 10th Ky. Cavalry. 
Colonel May became Colonel of this regiment. In tlie meantime, 
soon after the beginning of the war, he moved his family from 



652 History of Tazewell County 

Prestonburg to Tazewell, where he resided until his deatli, which 
occurred about forty years after the war. 



If there is a neighborhood in Tazewell County that deserves a 
separate page in history for the part it took, and the sacrifice it 
made, in the Civil War, it is the section of the county around Falls 
Mills, inside of a radius of two miles. 

There wei-e thirty-seven men from this section who went into 
the Confederate Army ; the most of them were small farmers or 
the sons of small farmers, two or three of them were mechanics — 
there was but one man among them who belonged to the slaveholding 
class. 

These men were scattered among eleven different regiments. 
Eleven of them belonged to the 16th Va; Cav., six to the 29th Va. 
Inf., six to the 50th Va. Inf., five to the 8th Va. Cav., two to the 
23rd Bat. Va. Inf., two to the 45th Va. Inf., one to the 4th Va. Inf., 
Stonewall Brigade, one to the 24th Va. Inf., one to the 54th Va. 
Inf., one to the 51st Va. Inf., and one to the 13th Bat. Va. Res. Inf. 

Eight of these men were killed in action, five of them died of 
disease in the service, and thirteen of them were wounded, making 
a total casualty list of twenty-six, which equals a fraction over 
seventy per cent of all those in the service. 

THE NAMES OF THESE SOLDIERS WERE AS FOLLOWS: 

Alexander Arms, 8th Va. Cav., killed near Staunton, Va., Nov. 
1864. 

W. J. Buckland, 50th Va. Inf., wounded at Wilderness, May, 
1864. 

Hugh Buckland, 50th Va. Inf., wounded at Chancellorsville, 
May, 1863. 

John W. Buckland, 16th Va. Cav., wounded at Gettysburg, July. 
186.'}. 

Robert Belcher, 16th Va. Cav., wounded near Wayne, W. Va.. 
Jan., 1864. 

Obediah Belcher, 2«)lh Va. Inf., killed at Drewry's Bluff, May, 
1864. 

I. Green Belcher, 23rd. Va. Inf. Battalion. 

James Bargar, 29th Va. Inf. 



and Southwest Virginia 653 

W. E. Butt, 13th Bat. Va. Reserves. 

Billiard P. Compton, 16th Va. Cav., wounded at Moorefield, 
Aug. 7th, 1864. 

Elihue Compton, 16th Va. Cav., wounded at Gettysburg, July, 
1863. 

Thos. Dangerfield, 16tli Va. Cav., killed near Wayne, W. Va., 
Jan., 1864. 

Ransom Dudley, 4th Va. Inf., wounded (lost arm), Gettysburg, 
July, 1863. 

Frank Dudlej', 8th Va. Cav. 

James Dudley, 8th Va. Cav. 

A. J. Dudley, 8th Va. Cav. 

William Dudley, 29th Va. Inf., died in summer of 1862. 

Thos. Ferguson, 50th Va. Inf., killed at Chancellorsville, May, 
1863. 

W. L. Graham, Lt. Col., 16th Va. Cav., wounded near Win- 
chester, June, 1863. 

Jno. A. Hambrick, 29th Va. Inf., died in summer of 1862. 

C. A. Hale, 8th Va. Cav. 

Madison Mullin, 50th Va. Inf., killed at Chancellorsville, May, 
1863. ■ - ' 

Austin Mullin, 54th Va. Inf. 

William Prunty, 23rd Bat. Va. Inf.. died in spring, 1862. 

Jesse Poe, 24th Va. Inf., killed at Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862. 

William Poe, 50th Va. Inf., died in summer of 1862. 

Kiah Poe, 29th Va. Inf., wounded at Drewry's Bluff, May, 1864 

Zach Poe, 16th Va. Cav., wounded in camp, accident, 1864. 

David Shufflebarger, 51st Va. Inf., wounded (lost leg) at New 
Market, May, 1864. 

Elbert Tabor, 16th Va. Cav., killed near Wayne, W. Va., Jan. 
1864. 

Andrew Tabor, 16th Va. Cav., killed at Moorefield, Aug. 7, 
1864. 

John A. Tabor, 50th Va. Inf., wounded at Chancellorsville, May, 
1864. 

Thomas E. Tabor, 29th Va. Inf. 

Henry Tabor, 45th Va. Inf., wounded at Fayette C. H., Sept. 
1862. 

W. J. Tabor, 16th Va. Cav. 



654 History of Tazewell County 

Daniel Wagner, 45th Va. Inf., died in 1861. 

George Williams, 16tli Va. Cav. 

The casualties sustained by the troops from all over the North>- 
east corner of Tazewell County were almost as great as those 
sustained by the Falls Mills neighborhood. Many of these men 
died of typhoid fever, among them were Trigg Tabor, Augustus 
Tabor, Hugh Tabor, Jefferson Tabor (died in prison), Wm. Dillon, 
Ransom Prunt}'^, David Crockett, William Crockett, Jordan Harless, 
Charles McDowell, Giles Parker, Dennis Stowers, Geo. Doughton, 
Harrison Tiller, David Workman and Hugh Wilson. 

Among those killed in action and died of wounds, were Thomas 
Dillon (son of Jeff), Robt. Moore, William Moore, Montgomery 
Faulkner, Jesse Osborne, George Gill, Robt. Gill, Lt. Col. Edwin 
Harman, Gordon Carter, Augustus Carter and Thomas East. There 
were a number of others wounded. 

There was an unfortimate condition of affairs that prevailed in 
the extreme Northeast corner of the county during tlie last year of 
the war. A few soldiers from that section were at home, absent 
from the army without leave. Two factions sprang up among them, 
and the result was a bitter feud, in which four men lost their lives. 
Mark Perdue, a well-behaved, harmless young man, was the first 
victim of this feud. The next men killed were John Fletcher and 
Osborne Dillon. The last victim was Samuel Hamill, who lost his 
life about the time the war ended. 

To the credit of both parties to this feud, it can be truly said 
that neither faction gave any trouble to people outside of the feudists 
themselves, and but one or two individuals among them ever affil- 
iated with the Union Home Guard marauders, wlio were a standing 
menace to this section during the last year of the war. 



I 



I 



Post Bellum or Development Period 



k Showing the Progress Made by Tazewell 
County Following the Civil War 
and Reconstruction 






i 



POST BELLUM OR DEVELOPMENT 
PERIOD 



CHAPTER I. 

COUNTY KECOVKRS FROM EFFECTS OF CIVIL WAR. 

The period of recovery and readjustment from the evil effects 
of the Civil War and Reconstruction actually began as soon as the 
new Constitution of Virginia was put in force and reorganization of 




Residence built by Thomas Witten, third, in 1838. Situated four 
miles west of Tazewell, on Cumberland Gap and Fincastle Turnpike. 
Now residence of John C. St. Clair. 

the county government of Tazewell was effected. And the recovery 
was given increased momentum when the public free schools were 
recognized as a valuable asset for the county rather than a burden 
to the taxpayers. Despite the retardments occasioned by the war, 
and the heavy financial loss suffered from the freeing of 1,200 / 
slaves in Tazewell, tlie wealth of the county was not seriously r 
impaired. As soon as the war was over the farmers commenced to j 
clear up for cultivation and grazing purposes boundaries that had 
T.H.— 42 ( 657 ) 



658 History of Tazewell County 

been left covered with virgin forest growth, and thus added largely 
to the area of improved lands. 

The population had increased from 9,920 in 18G0 to 10,701 in 
1870. Although tlie assessed value of real estate in the county was 
but $1,790/125 in 1870 as against $3,10i,521. in 1860, this anomal- 
ous condition was evidently induced by heavy increases in tax rates, 
and a consequent inclination on the part of the landowners to have 
their lands assessed as low as possible. The assessors were gen- 
erally in sj^mpathy with this low assessment idea, and there was 
no actual depreciation in the sales values of lands in Tazewell 
County, resultant from the Civil War. A disposition to keep 
assessments low is still manifest in Tazewell, and in all the coimties 
of Southwest Virginia. In fact, the disposition prevails in nearly 
all the rural sections of the State. There are several good reasons 
that can be assigned for this disposition of the landowners of Taze- 
well County, and of Southwest Virginia, to cling tenaciously to the 
idea of low assessments. One potent reason is, that in Tazewell, 
and in many sections of Southwest Virginia, a very large percentage 
of the improved lands have advanced in price until fancy values have 
been placed upon them ; and at prices very far beyond their actual 
value for purely agricultural purposes. If they were assessed at 
approximately these fancy values, they would cease to be paying 
investments. But the chief reason for, a continuance of low assess- 
ments is the enormous increase inihe, epst of government. The 
Federal Government now spends billions where it formerly spent a 
few hundred millions; the State Government costs the taxpayers 
three or four times as much annually as it did fifteen or twenty 
years ago; and all local governments in Virginia — municipal, county, 
and district — have increased their expenditures in like proportion. 
The taxpayers very reasonably apprehend that an increase in the 
assessed value of their real estate to its actual value would not 
lower the tax rates now imposed ; but would serve to swell the 
revenues and stimulate the extravagance and waste that prevail in 
the several governments they are compelled to help maintain. 

As early as 1852 the people of Southwest Virginia became 
deeply concerned about railroads. The Virginia & Tennessee Rail- 
road had been chartered by the Virginia General Assembly in 1847, 
to be built from Lynchburg to the jaresent city of Bristol, a distance 
of 204 miles. The route had been surveved and the road bed was 



and Southwest Virginia 



659 



being graded in 1851-52. When Dr. Bickley wrote and published 
his history in 1852, he tried to direct the attention of the people of 
Tazewell to the important matter of securing railway facilities for 
the development of the agricultural interests and mineral and other 
natural resources of the county. At that time the farmers of Taze- 
well were not cultivating their land in a scientific way; and did 




Dr George Ben Johnston was born in the town of Tazewell, then 
JeffersonvilleT on July 25th, 1853, and died in Richmond, Virginia 
December 20th, 1916. He was descended from hai-dy pioneers, who 
were prominent as daring soldiers and distinguished citizens-the 
Bowens, Prestons, Floyds, and Johnstons-and who helped to prepaie 
Southwest Virginia as an ideal home for American freemen. And he 
is recorded as the most noted professional man who was a native son 
of Tazewell. His great skill as a surgeon placed him m the fiont lank 
of hfs profession. He was so highly esteemed by his fe lows that he 
was ele'Sed, without opposition, President of the "American Surgical 
Association," the highest and most coveted honor to which an American 
surgeon can aspire. His devotion to Tazewell was so intense that he 
kept on the mantel of his private office a bottle of nch s-l procured 
from the old Floyd estate in Burke's Garden, which he told his Jiends 
was to be deposited in his grave when he was buried. I have been 
informed by his sister that his wishes were complied with. 

not seem to be eager to have a railroad penetrate the county. Bick- 
ley said: 

"Give us railroads, and let the press make known the claims of 
Southwestern Virginia, and the 'gee up' of the New England plow- 
boy will soon be heard upon our mountain sides. Our mountaineers 



660 History of Tazewell County 

will soon be seen trading in Riclnnond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
New York, and Boston. Our neglected fields will bloom under the 
hands of scientific agriculturists, till wagons will no more be seen 
passing westward with men to build States on the ruins of those they 
have left." 

During the year 1852 a number of families— some of the 
Wynnes, Peerys, Wittens, and others— moved from Tazewell to 
Missouri. Lands were then very cheap in Missouri, while such land 
as the "movers" left in Tazewell was worth from forty to fifty 
dollars an acre. Therefore, it must have been Missouri's cheap 
lands and not dissatisfaction with conditions in Tazewell that caused 
the migrations of which Bickley complains. 

In writing of the minerals, Bickley said they were "both num- 
erous and important— silver, iron, lead, arsenic, sulphur, salt, niter, 
gypsum, and large quantities of coal." Speaking of the coal he 
said: 

"Coal exists everywhere, though wood is so plenty that it has not 
been used as fuel to any extent; hence, no search has been made 
for it. Bituminous, and, probably, cannel coal, exist in great quan- 
tities. The nearest to Jefferson ville that has yet been discovered, 
is on the lands of G. W. G. Browne, in Poor Valley, about four and 
a half miles from Jeffersonville. It is thought that coal does not 
exist on the head branches of Clinch River, but I imagine the sup- 
position has no foundation. It has been found below, and in every 
direction around, and, no doubt, exists generally through the county. 
When shall we have an outlet for this coal ? 

Dr. Bickley had very imperfect knowledge of the coal bearing 
sections of Tazewell County; but his confident expectation that 
these coal deposits would prove of great value and ultimately be 
placed in the markets of the world were well founded. An answer 
to his question: "Wlien shall we have an outlet for this coal.?" 
was made just thirty years afterward by shipments of coal from 
Pocahontas. 



In 1871, Genera] G. C. Wharton was representing Montgomery 
County in the Virginia House of Delegates. He was acquainted 
with the extensive deposits of coal in the Flat Top Mountain 



and Southwest Virginia 661 

region ; and for the purpose of developing the coal beds of that 
country obtained a charter from tlie Legislature on March 7th, 
1872, incorporating "The New liiver Railroad, Mining and Manu- 
facturing Company." The incorporators named in the act were: 
John B. Radford, John T. Cowan, Joseph Cloyd, James A. Walker, 
William T. Yancey, William Mahone, Charles W. Statham, Joseph 
H. Chumbley, A. H. Flannigan, Philip W. Strother, John C. 
Snidow, Joseph H. Hoge, William Eggleston, G. C. Wharton, Wil- 
liam Adair, James A. Harvey, A. A. Chapman, Robert W. Hughes, 
A. N. Johnston, Elbert Fowler, David E. Johnston, John A. 
Douglas, W. H. French, R. B. McNutt, James M. Bailey and A. 
Gooch. 

The charter gave the company authority "to construct, maintain, 
and operate a railroad from New River depot, a point on the line 
of the Virginia and Tennessee division of the Atlantic, Mississippi 
and Ohio Railroad Company, in the county of Pulaski and State 
of Virginia, to such a point as may be agreed upon at or near the 
head-waters of Camp Creek, in the county of Mercer and State of 
West Virginia." 

The charter also empoweied the company to engage in mining 
coal, and iron and other ores, to acquire ownership of land for 
mining and manufacturing purposes, and to build branch roads for 
bringing out ores in certain counties of Virginia and West Virginia. 

Deep interest was awakened in Tazewell by the chartering and 
organizing of the New River Railroad, Mining and Manufacturing 
Company. It gave promise of a realization of the long indulged 
hope that an outlet by rail would be obtained for shipment of the 
abundant products and minerals of the county. Schemes were 
promptly devised and pi'ojected by interested citizens to have a 
branch road built to Tazewell. But such enterprises in that day 
were very slow in reaching a practical form. 

There was then very little capital that could be gotten in Vir- 
ginia for such work as was contemplated by General Wharton and 
his associates ; and they were compelled to seek assistance from 
capitalists in Philadelphia and other places at the North. Certain 
shrewd financiers and promoters in Philadelphia in this way learned 
of the mineral riches of the great Flat Top coal region. They 
immediately sought to identify themselves with the New River 
Railroad, Mining and Manufacturing Company, with the intention 



662 History of Tazewell County 

of getting control of its franchises and displacing the original 
incorporators. Their schemes were cunningly devised and were 
worked out successfully. They got control of the franchises of the 
company and reorganized it under the name of The New River 
Railroad. ■ i 

General William Mahone^ after several years of strenuous effort, 
got the Virginia General Assembly to pass an act on June 17th, 
1870, for merging and consolidating tlie Norfolk & Petersburg Rail- 
road Company, the Southside Railroad Company, and the Virginia 
& Tennessee Railroad Company into a single line, and forming it 
into the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad. The merging of 
these three roads, giving a through line from the Seaboard at 
Norfolk to Bristol, a distance of four hundred and eight miles, was 
of immense value to Southwest Virginia; but it was bitterly opposed 
by many citizens of this section. 

At the organization of the new company. General Mahone was 
made president and became its active and efficient manager. He 
raised money by mortgages, purchased new rails from English 
manufacturers, paying for them with bonds of the company ; and 
put the line in excellent condition. The rails proved to be of very 
inferior quality, the British manufacturers having perpetrated a 
base fraud upon General Mahone. An awful financial panic came 
on in the United States in 1873. It so greatly reduced the earnings 
of the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio Railroad, that the company 
failed on October 1st, 1874, and on April 1st, 1875, to pay the semi- 
annual interest on its mortgage indebtedness. 

These delinquencies caused the bondholders and other creditors 
to institute proceedings in the United States Circuit Court for the 
Eastern District of Virginia, asking for the appointment of a 
receiver. PhiladelpJiians engineered the movement, and a Philadel- 
pliian was appointed receiver. He conducted the affairs of the com- 
pany until the road was sold under a decree of the court. The sale 
was made on the 10th of February, ISSl, and Clarence M. Clark 
and associates, of Philadelphia, became the purchasers. 

On the 9th of May, 1882, the New River Railroad Company of 
Virginia, the New River Railroad Company of West Virginia, and 
the East River Railroad Company of West Virginia were consoli- 
dated into the Norfolk & Western Railroad Company. 

Surveys liaving been completed the Norfolk & Western Railroad 



and Southwest Virginia 663 

Company, on tlie 3rd of August, 1881, commenced the construction 
of its New River branch line from the main line at New River 
Depot to Pocahontas. The grading of the road down the western 
banks of New River to the mouth of East River — thence up that 
river to where the city of Bluefield is now located; and thence to 
Pocahontas^ — was both difficult and expensive. But the work was 
carried on rapidly ; and the grading and track laying were completed 
to Pocahontas on May 21st, 1883. The first shipment of coal from 
the Pocahontas mines was made on the — of June, 1883. 
Although tlie road ran but a short distance on Tazewell soil, along 
the northeastern border of the county and in sight of the Mercer 
County line, it was well understood that another line would soon be 
built to and down the Clinch Valley. A charter was obtained for 
this line on the 6th day of April, 1887; and, at a meeting of the 
stockholders of the Norfolk & Western Company, held subsequently, 
authority was given the directors of that company to consolidate the 
Clinch Valley extension with the Norfolk & Western. Work was 
begun on the Clinch Valley line on the 20th of June, 1887, and 
before the end of the year 1888 trains were running along the 
Clinch tlirough the entire length of the county. 

The whistlings of the locomotives and the rumblings of the 
heavily laden trains, as they moved up and down the Clinch Valley, 
not only brought joy and increased comforts to the inhabitants of 
Tazewell, but were destined to be the carriers of vast wealth to 
the county. Extensive developments of the Pocahontas and Flat 
Top coal beds brought thousands of miners and thousands of other 
consumers to that region, and established good markets for many 
farm products that previously had not been transported from the 
county on account of their perishable nature. Eggs, fowls, butter, 
fruits, vegetables, and Tazewell's famous bacon found ready sale 
in the coal fields. Bluefield and Pocaliontas became busy hives of 
industry, witli thousands of inhabitants. 

What was known as "tlie boom," when men became wild with 
their schemes to build towns and cities, and gambled recklessly in 
town lots, came in 1890. The towns of Graham and Richlands in 
Tazewell were laid off, and their founders aspired to make them 
industrial centers. Tilings moved along nicely until the year 1893. 
Then came the direful panic and industrial depression that brought 
business disaster to every section of the Union and calamity to the 



664 



History of Tazewell County 



laboring men of the country. The coal mining industry became 
stagnant throughout the United States ; and it was almost discon- 
tinued in the Pocahontas fields and in Wise County. Norton, the 
boom town at the western terminus of the Clinch Valley Railroad, 
was turned into a deserted village ; and Graham, at the eastern 
terminus, presented an air of desolation. The coke ovens at Poca- 
hontas were idle and abandoned ; and it was told that calves were 
grazing about and hogs sleeping in the coke ovens. Many of 
Tazewell's farm products became valueless, except for home con- 
sumption. Eggs sold for five cents a dozen ; navy beans for sixty- 
five cents a bushel; butter for ten cents a pound, and some of the 
farmers used it for axle grease. 



and Southwest Virginia 665 



CHAPTER II. 

PROSPERITY RETURNS TO TAZEWELL COUNTY. 

In 1897 the rainbow of prosperity once again hovered over 
the Clinch Valley; and its gracious influence has remained here 
until the present time. A new era for the county seems to have 
been ushered in; and since tlie year 1897 Tazewell has been jiro- 
gressing on every line. Her population, as shown by the census of 
1890, had grown to 19,889, as against 12,861 in 1880. In 1900 — 
notwithstanding the hard four years, 1893-96 — the population had 
increased to 23,384, and in 1910 it was 2'i,94'6. Thus, it is seen 
that the population of the county within a period of thirty years 
had increased nearly a hundred per cent. The heavy increase of 
the population was chiefly due to the building of railroads into 
the county and the development of its mineral resources. 

During the twenty-two years following 1890, the wealth of 
Tazewell increased in greater proportion than the popidation. In 
1890 the assessed taxable values of the county amounted to 
$2,015,075 of which $1,417,090 was real estate, and $567,985 was 
personal property. By 1912 the taxable values had grown to 
$7,237,566, composed of $4,713,155 real estate, $1,483,136 tangible 
and $1,041,275 intangible personal property. The increase in 
assessed taxable values in twenty-two years was over three hundred 
and fifty per cent. But the growth of the wealth of Tazewell 
County during the six years following 1912 is truly amazing. The 
assessed taxable values for 1918 are shown by the following table 
which has been kindly supplied by H. P. Brittain, county treasurer: 

"Assessed Taxable values, for county purposes, in Tazewell 
County for the year 1918. 

Personal Property, Tangible and Intangible $ 6,073,017.00 

Real Estate 5.065,630.00 

Railroads and Electric Railway's 1,191,516.00 

Telegraphs, Telephone and Express Companies.. 20,886.00 

Heat, Light and Power Companies 95,390.00 

Total $12,446,439.00 



666 



History of Tazewell County 



A very large part of tlie assessed taxable values of the county 
was composed of live stock. The animals listed for taxation for 
county purposes were: 4.271 horses. 20.234 cattle^ 14, 151 sheep, 
7,749 hogs, and 151 goats. A conservative estimate of the value 
of the live stock sold from Tazewell County in 1918, places the 
amount at one and a half million dollars. 




Dr. Samuel Cecil Bowen has been pronounced one of the finest 
all-around characters Tazewell County has given birth to. He was 
bom at the old Maiden Spring homestead on May 15th, 1881, was the 
son of Rees Tate and Mary Crockett Bowen, and the great-great- 
grandson of Lieutenant Rees Bowen, the hero of King's Mountain. 
Dr. Bowen obtained his academic education at Hampden- Sidney Col- 
lege and the Ohio State University. He graduated with distinction 
as Doctor of Medicine at the Virginia Medical College in 1905, was 
resident physician at Memorial Hospital, Richmond, Virginia, for 
eighteen months; and, after engaging several years m the general 
practice of the profession, spent three years at the New York Eye and 
Ear Infii-mai-y as house surgeon of that noted institution. In 1912 he 
located at Richmond, where he became associated with Dr. R. H. 
Wright as a specialist in the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, 
nose, and throat. Very soon after he commenced to practice as a 
specialist he aroused the attention of eminent men of the profession as 
a skillful and successful operator; and previous to his death, which 
occurred Dec. 20th, 1918, had won a State- wide, and even National 
reputation as a specialist. 

Further proof of tlie great increase of wealth in the county is 
evidenced by the increased number of banks, the large aggregate 
capital of these banks, and the heavy dei>osits they show. 

There are now nine banks in the county, with an aggregate 
capital of $855,(500. Three of these— Bank of Clinch Valley, Taze- 



and Southwest Virginia 667 

well National Bank^ and Farmers National Bank — are located in the 
town of Tazewell; two — First National Bank of Riehlands^ and 
Richlands National Bank — are at Richlands; two^First National 
Bank of Pocahontas^ and Bank of Pocahontas — are at Pocahontas ; 
and two — First National Bank of Graham, and Bank of Graham — 
are at Graham. The sworn statement of these nine banks, pub- 
lished in November, 1919, showed that the aggregate deposits then 
amounted to the sum of $3,012,205.58. 



The population of Tazewell County by the recent census is 
27,840. There are no cities, but there are five substantial towns 
within its borders. The census of 1920 gives the population of the 
towns as follows: Richlands, 1,171, increase 428; Tazewell, 1,261, 
increase 31; North Tazewell, 626, increase 284; Pocahontas, 2,591, 
increase 139; Graham, 2,752, increase 835. There was an increase 
in the population of the county, during the decade just closed, of 
2,094 souls. Of this increase, 1,717 persons were found in the five 
incorporated towns, and only 1,177 in the balance of the county. 
The increase in the wealth of the county was much greater in pro- 
portion than the population. 

Educational conditions in tlie county have been greatly improved 
during the past twenty-five or thirty years. Previous to the intro- 
duction of the public free schools by the Constitution of 1870, the 
people of Tazewell had relied entirely upon private schools for 
tlie education of tlieir children. Tliat class of schools could be 
maintained only in tlie communities that were thickly populated, 
and where tlie wealthiest citizens were located. There was a 
meager provision mad^ by tlie State for the education of indigent 
white children; but this provision proved of little value to the 
cause of popular education. 

In 1852 there were but fifteen school houses in the county — all 
of them one-room buildings — and Bickley said they were "better 
suited for barns than seats of learning." Then the area of the 
county was much greater than at present, as it included a part of 
Buchanan, all of McDowell County, and a part of Bland. The 
census of 1850 disclosed the existence of a shameful state of illit- 
eracy within the bounds of Tazewell. There were but 3,311 white 
persons in the county over the age of twenty years, and of these 
1,490 were vmable to read and write. And there must have been 
a large number of white persons between the ages of ten and twenty 



66S History of Tazewell County 

who could not read and write. It is probable that more than fifty 
per cent of the white persons in the county were illiterate. The 
percentage of illiteracy was reduced considerably by taking Buch- 
anan and McDowell counties from Tazewell in 1858. 

No marked improvement in educational conditions was observa- 
ble in Tazewell until about thirty years ago, when the people of 
Virginia became interested in popular education. There was first 
hostility, and then indifference to the public free scliools. The tax- 
payers were reluctant to be taxed for the sujjport of the common 
free schools, and many citizens refused to send their children to 
these schools. But the jjeople of Virginia, including those of Taze- 
well County, were at last awakened to the fact that the education 
of the masses was an essential need for the preservation of a pro- 
gressive civilization in the Commonwealth, and for the perpetuation 
of our republican form of government. 

Private schools were practically abandoned, and every attempt 
to establish academies or colleges in the towns and communities 
jDroved futile. The entire purpose of the citizens was then directed 
to the upbuilding of the free school system. That this effort has 
been attended with great success is evidenced by what was accom- 
plished through the free schools in the scholastic year of 1918-19. 
During tliat scholastic year the sum of $110,517.49 was expended 
in Tazewell for General Control, Instruction, Operation, Mainte- 
nance, Auxiliary Agencies, and Improvements of school property. 
Of this sum $73,705.00 was paid in salaries to the teachers, and 
$15,109 for new buildings. There are now 73 white and 7 colored 
plants or school houses in the county; and for the last school year 
there were 150 white and 14 colored schools, each room being 
counted, technically, a school. These schools are classified as fol- 
lows: 

Four-year High Schools, 4; Junior High Schools, 2; Graded 
Schools, meaning three-room and four-room, 3 white and 3 colored; 
Common Schools, one and two-room, 68. The number of teachers 
employed was 150 white and 14 colored. A school census was taken 
in 1915, and the school population was: — white, 7,173; colored, 
693 — a total of 7,899. The enrollment of pupils for the year 
1917-1918 was — white, 6.080; colored, 693 — a total enrollment 
of 6,773. 

That illiteracy in Tazewell County has been rapidly disappear- 
ing is shown in the report of the State Superintendent of Public 



and Southwest Virginia 669 

Instruction for the school year 1911-15. His report states that, 
according to the school census of 1915, Tazewell stood third among 
the counties having the lowest rate of illiteracy in that part of the 
population between 10 and 20 years of age. Illiteracy with that 
part of the population between 10 and 20 years old had been reduced 
to about one per cent. This is a splendid showing for Tazewell and 
is very encouraging to tlie friends of Popular Education. Culture 
has ceased to be the privilege of classes in Tazewell County. 

coon roads. 

In the matter of improved highways the .ounty has made most 
creditable progress. Tliis has proved an important contributing 
cause for the increased taxable values of the county. On the 18th 
day of April, 1911, a bond issue of $625,000 was voted for by the 
three magisterial districts, to be expended imder the direction and 
supervision of the State Highway Commission. The magisterial 
districts voted separately as to the amount each would expend on its 
roads. Jeffersonville District voted $200,000; Clear Fork District 
$250,000; and Maiden Spring District, $175,000. Another election 
for issuing additional bonds was held and carried on the 4th of 
April, 1916. 

Under the provisions of the second bond issue Jeffersonville 
District received $96,000; and Clear Fork District $155,900. 
Maiden Spi'ing District voted in the election but declined to parti- 
pate in the proceeds of the bond issue. At a later date Clear Fork 
District issued bonds to the amount of $9,000 without authorization 
from the electorate of the countj\ The sum total of the bond issue 
for road purposes is $885,900. 

Tazewell County's Bond Issue system is, perhaps, the most 
satisfactory that could be devised, certain of the bonds maturing 
one year after date, some in two years, some in three years, et cet., 
the last maturing in 1946. The county does not provide for nor 
carry a sinking fund, the current levies being sufficient to retire the 
bonds as they mature and pay the interest on balance of issue, the 
tax burden being fairly distributed over the years from date of 
issue to maturity of last lot of bonds. This system has proved to 
be most satisfactory. 

Soon after the first bond issue was carried, active work on the 
county roads was beg\m ; and nearly all the proceeds of the several 
bond issues has been expended. As a result, the county now has 



670 



History of Tazewell County 



135 miles of macadam roads, and 100 miles of improved dirt roads, 
or a total of 235 miles of improved roads. There still remains 285 
miles of unimproved roads, there being a total of 520 miles of public 
roads in Tazewell County. 

A splendid macadam road has been completed from a point 
five miles east of the Russell County line to t^ie eastern line of 
Tazewell County at Graham. This road practically follows the 
route of the old Cumberland Gap and Fincastle Turnpike, but with 
greatly improved grades. At the regular session of the Virginia 




Scene in valley about a mile west of the court house, showing 
the modem road built on the location of the old Fincastle and Cumber- 
land Gap Turnpike. In the backg-round Morris' Knob is visible. The 
photo from which the half-tone cut is made was made by A. M. Black, 
Tazewell's splendid photographer. It won first prize in a contest for 
prize of $1,500 offered by the Ladies' Home Journal, under the head- 
ing: "An Old Virginia Road." 

General Assembly in 1919 the road from Cumberland Gap to 
Graham was designated as one of the State highways by the act 
passed at that session of the Legislature. The road is now com- 
pleted, with the exception of the five miles in the west end of 
Tazewell County and a few short sections in Scott County. 

Another modern highway follows the route of the Tazewell C. H. 
and Kentucky Turnpike to the head of Baptist Valley, and has 
been macadamized down that valley a distance of four miles. 
Similar roads have been built in other sections of the county ; one 
from Cedar Bluff by Steelesburg, to intersect wath the Cumberland 
Gap and Graham road at a point west of Midway ; another from 
Witten's Mill to Tiptop; and one from Pocahontas to the head of 
Abb's Valley. Perhaps, the best road in the county follows the 



and Southwest Virginia 671 

route of the old Tazewell C. H. and Fancy Gap Turnpike^, from 
the forks of the road opposite the residence of the late Captain Wm. 
E. Peery, up the south branch of Clinch River to Gratton; thence 
crosses Rich Mountain, and passes into and through Burke's Garden. 
This is one of the most travelled and attractive roads in the county. 
In a few more years Tazewell will have one of the most complete 
and splendid systems of highways in our State. 

In former years the county was celebrated for its number of 
saddle and draft horses. The improved highways have already 
nearly made travel on horseback obsolete, and the splendid saddle 
animals that for more than a hundred years had attracted buyers 
from all regions have nearly disappeared. Hundreds of automobiles 
have taken the place of saddle and carriage horses, and auto trucks 
are rapidly displacing the fine draft teams that were so long the 
pride of this people. 

Buckle and other historians, who made civilization a theme, 
have expressed the conviction that climate, soil, and food are the 
three essential physical agents for creating a high degree of civi- 
lization in a community or nation. And these writers have affirmed 
that the most important product evolved from the essential physical 
agents is the accumulation of wealth. Their contention is, that 
without a wealthy leisure class there can be no large measure of 
knowledge and no intellectual class. 

When the pioneer fathers came to the Clinch Valley they found 
here amply provided by nature the three basic essentials for erect- 
ing a highly civilized community — that is, climate, soil, and food. 
They utilized very successfully these natural agencies for estab- 
lishing comfortable homes for themselves and their families; and 
secured to their posterity the most priceless attributes of civiliza- 
tion, political and religious freedom. While accomplishing this, 
they were laying a firm foundation upon which their descendants 
and successors might erect the best type of civilization. 

Class and caste were tlie disintegrating elements in the moral 
force and national character of all ancient civilizations. A similar 
defect was the controlling instrumentality in modern European 
civilization, which during a period of four recent years turned Con- 
tinental Europe into a bloody shambles; and threatened to uproot 
the excellent social fabric constructed by the fathers of our own 
beloved land. 



672 History of Tazewell County 

The extremes of wealth and poverty do not now exist and have 
never been existent in Tazewell. There are many comfortably 
wealthy men in the county ; and, perhaps, half a dozen millionaires. 
But, with a population of 27,840 souls in the county, as shown by 
the census of I9'20, there are only 53 paupers here. The paupers 
are of a class that are unable to work on account of the infirmities 
of age, or other physical causes, and mental deficiency. Fifteen 
are entirely dependent and are maintained at the county farm, while 
thirty-eight are partially dependent and receive aid from the public 
funds. The county owns a valuable farm, situated one and a half 
miles east of the county seat, its estimated value being seventj^-five 
thousand dollars. During the fiscal year which ended the 1st of 
July, 1919, the products of the farm amounted to $1,890; and the 
live stock on hand at that date was valued at $8,760. The annual 
expense for conducting the farm and maintaining the ])aupers is, 
approximatel}', $6,000. As long as present conditions continue 
society here will be contented and prosperous ; and, apparently, it 
will be best for the county to remain, as it always has been, pri- 
marily an agricultural community. Adherence to this system will give 
comfort and security to the energetic worker, and will not furnish 
asylum to the idler. God forbid, that Tazewell shall ever have a 
system with paupers at the base and idle rich at the top of the 
social scale. May its social system never be like that of modern 
England, of which Matthew Arnold affirmed: "Our inequality 
materializes our upper class, vulgarizes our middle class, and bru- 
talizes our lower class." 

Wealth, great wealth is now collectively possessed by the people 
of Tazewell. What will they do with it.'' Under the spell of 
modern civilization, shall the rising generation be trained to place 
a negligible value upon the instrumentalities of civilization that 
were recognized and utilized l)y tlie pioneer fathers; and be taught 
that money, position, power, idleness, and luxury are the prime 
essentials of an advanced civilization? This is the gravest question 
the Christian woi*ld has to solve. What part will the people of 
Tazewell enact in its solution.'' Shall civilization continue to advance 
here on definitely true lines, or retrograde into a refined barbarism ? 
Shall we continue to teach but neglect to practice the great social 
and political truths of Thomas Jefferson, embodied in the Virginia 
Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence? 



APPENDIX TO HISTORY OF 
TAZEWELL COUNTY 



Names of Tazewell County men who served in tlie military and 
naval service of the United States during the World War, as 
shown by the Muster Roll of Tazewell County, which is made up 
from records of the Local Board of said county, and the list of 
volunteers furnished the clerk of said county by the Adjutant 
General of Virginia. 

Quite a number of men outside of draft age volunteered, and up 
to the present time no record has been obtained showing the names 
of these men. 

ARMY. 

White. 

Thomas Albert Adison, Robert Samuel Angles, Willis Carl 
Anderson, Marion Calvin Asbury, James Riley Able, William B. 
Absher, Gus Asbury, John Johnson Asbury, Joseph Andrew Amos, 
Edd Kelly Adison. 

Charles Arthur Billips, John Robert Birklebach, Shade Creed 
Baldwin, Charley Wm. Blankenship, James Barnett, David Carl 
Beavers, Charlie Mose Beavers, Dan Brodskie, Charles Oata Bow- 
man, Homer Beavers, Steve Boray, Robert A. Billips, Nelson Henry 
Barker, Paris Brown, Sam Buchanan Bogle, Wm. Jasj^er Blanken- 
ship, Arthur Marvin Buskill, Posy Earl Burcham, James Robert 
Burress, Marion Bowman, J. Raymond Barnett, Martin Luther 
Bowling, Isaac C. Buchanan, Geo. W. Belcher, George Walter 
Beavers, James Brooks, Eugene Newton Burroughs, Pola Andrew 
Brooks, George Beavers, Shelburn G. Bruster, John Ward Baylor, 
George Thomas Baumgardner, William Benson, George Bandy, 
Peery Boothe, Roy Thomas Barrett, Roy Boyd, Charles G. Brown, 
Watts Baldwin, George Dewey Bowman, Arthur Samuel Beavers, 
Sidney Isaac Bowman, James Fred Brown, W. D. Brown, Gilbert 
Brinegar, Sidney Blankenship, Lawrence W. Blankenship, Cecil 
Calloway Bane, Erwin Bane, Tazie Belcher, Fayette Beavers, 
Grover Cleveland Barnett, Jesse Marvin Boyd, John George Black- 
T.H.-43 . ( 673 ) 



674 History of Tazewell County 

well. Bandy Boggess, Riffe Boggess, Stanley Lee Bowman, James 
Luther Belcher, Howard S. Bowman, Otis Lee Boothe, Lee Barrett, 
Sidney Bloch, James Bryant Burton, David Lonzo Bowman, Enoch 
Bayles, William Frank Baj'lor, Glenn Everett Beavers, Cliarles 
Thomas Boone, Sylvester Blankenship, Bryan William Barnett, 
James William Bowser, Earnest Brown Bales, Trube T. Bourne, 
Rees Richard Boone, Lawrence A. Barrett, William J. Bowser, 
Jasper Brewster. 

Lewis H. Carbaugh, James Allen Clark, Joe Conley, John Clin- 
ton Coleman, Arnold Coles, John Carter, Nick Crist, William Arthur 
Coleman, William Otis Caldwell, Walter Preston Creasy, Robert 
Samuel Crabtree, James Robert Cregar, Alva Brittain Cregar, 
Chester Carter, Vinton Victor Christian, Jesse Lee Coen, Claude 
Chrisman, Robert Marvin Crabtree, Samuel Clark, Daniel Frank 
Collins, Thomas Cochran, Jesse Ben Clark, Aaron Carter, Wiley 
Robinson Compton, William Cordill, William Carter, Fred B. 
Cordle, James Raleigh Compton, Roy Alexander Cohen, Vance 
Witten Carter, John Willie Christian, Creed Frazier Catron, Wil- 
liam Cebard Cox, John Ed. Crockett, Jesse Walter Cregar, Avery 
M. Crabtree, Lewis R. Coulling, Edward Charles Clark, Charles R. 
L. Cruey, Arthur Cordle, Grover Campbell, Albert del. Castello, 
James Thomas Crouse, William Henry Cole, S. M. B. Coulling, Jr. 

William Deskins, Luther Henry Dunnigan, Samuel Dillow, 
Charles Davis, Joseph Elliott Deaton, James Miller Davidson, 
Henry Albert Davis, George F. Deaton, Charles Smith Dalton, 
John Frank Daniel, James Henry Davis, Will Allis Dillon, Hasten 
Dingus, J. P. Davidson, Hugh Cornelius Davis, George Thomas 
Dillow, Robert Samuel Davis, Baxter Duncan, Alfred V. Dennen, 
Arthur Blaine Dunningan, James Dawson, Marshall Deaton, 
Charles Hugh Dudley. 

Leland S. Edwards, Jesse Lee Epperson, Frank Chalmers Ellett, 
Walter Clinton Edwards, M. E. Eagle, Newton Harman Edwards, 
Haz. Eagle, William Ray Edwards, John Gideon Epperson, P'ielden 
Kirk Pearls. 

Albert Pendleton French, Joseph Farris, Andrew Sid. Franklin, 
Charley Farmer, James Edgar Fields, Emory Lee P'lanarj', Wm. 
Chafe Faulkner, Jr., Robert Guy Flanary, Clinton Farmer. 



and Southwest Virginia 675 

William Cosby Greever, Harvey George Gillespie, Charles 
Joseph Gose, George Thomas Gentry, Samuel William Green, 
Robert Griffith, Samuel Walton Graham, Hal Gordon Graham, 
Robert B. Gross, Robert R. H. Gillespie, Frederick William Glen- 
ville, John Arthur Graham, William G. Gillespie, John A. Graham, 
Charles INI. Gillespie, Harvey Eli Green, Reuben Pendleton Green, 
Benjamin H. Griffith, Joseph W. Guess, Thomas Walter Gillespie, 
Julius Goodman, George Gydosh, Andro But Gussian, George 
Benoni Gose, Robert Felix Gillespie, Earnest Burton Gravely, 
Carnie J. Gillespie, Irby Gillenwaters. 

Daniel Clayburn Hogston, James Stanley Home, Roby Kellis 
Hill, Robert P. Harman, Edward Albert Holmes, Luther Hall, Ira 
Edward Horton, James Robert Harless, Lee Harman, Gary John 
Hodge, Hampton Hutson, Thomas Hankins, John Edd. Howery, 
Will Herald, George H. Harman, Frank R. Henderson, Roy Lee 
Hagy, Henry Thomas Haley, Harry A. Humphrey, Edward W. 
Hill, John Hunnel, Henry Mullins Hanshaw, Lee Helmandollar, 
Arthur Hunnel, Amos Hess, George C. Hooker, Ira E. Helton, Wil- 
liam Harman, Otto Herald, James Bishop Hays, Bryant Harman, 
Thomas T. Hewson, Hugh R. Hawthorne, Reese Hall, James Frank 
Hopkins, Thomas Albert Howery, William Harman, William Henry, 
Charles Dale Harman, Earl Preston Hall, Frazier Harman, Henry 
Hunt, Walter Lee Hankins, Charles Hughes, David Paul Harris, 
Charles Chester Hindley, Daniel Robert Harman, Timothy Hankins, 
Andrew J. Hall, Albert Claude Hankins, James Hess, William H. 
Harrison, Joseph Brown Heldreth, Irvin Ben Hodges, Paul Perry 
Himter, John Clarence Heldreth, Lee Hoops, William Hall, Thomas 
Milton Harris, Sid. Harry, Robert L. Hoops, William Prevo Hager, 
Robert Arthur Harris, Thomas Hughes, Walter Helmandollar, 
George B. Houchins, J. E. Hurt, Harvey G. Flarrison. 

Henry Ingle. 

George Raymond Jennings, Herbert Jackson, James William 
Jones, Walter I. Jenkins, Burl Jones, Marion I. Jackson, Eugene 
Johnson, John R. Jones, Thomas A. Jackson, Joseph C. Jones, 
Chesley Albert Jeter, Taylor Jackson, Joseph Elbert Johnson, 
Robert Lee Jones, Edward Lewis Jackson, Henry Alexander Jones, 
Robert C. Jackson. 



676 History of Tazewell County 

Joseph Frazier Kitts, William Gent Kiser, Fletcher Kiser, Wil- 
liam Thomas Keesee, Walter E. Kiser, Newton Roy Kinder, Claude 
G. Kitts, Oscar John Kachelries, Charles George Kinder, James 
Robert Kinder, William Frank Kinder, Johan Kenevar, Christian 
Thomas Kirk, Alonzo Hyatt Kelly, James G. Kelly, Jesse Moore 
Karr, Roy Howard Keister, Oscar Heath Keister, John Tyler Kee- 
see, Grover Leo Kinder, David Clyde Keister, Joe S. Kish, Jr. 

James Crockett Lester, Charles Lawrence, Samuel Erastus 
Leffel, Robert Lockhart Lefler, William Allen Lee, Thomas H. 
Lambert, Adam Bittle Lambert, James Robert Lawrence, Jr., 
Clarence E. Lawrence, Christopher Lockwood, Titus Lambert, Wil- 
liam Eli Lockhart, Seldon Crockett Lambert, Robert Andrew 
Lethcoe, Abb Lambert, John Wyatt Lawrence, Robert Thomas 
Long, Robert Frazier Lambert, Channel A. Lawson, Crockett Lowe, 
Ewing Waters Lawson, Paris H. Lambert, Beverly D. Litz, John 
Cleveland Lambert, John W. Lawrence, William Whitt Lowe, 
James Truby Lambert, William S. Lockhart, Luther James Lank- 
ford, Walter D. Lovell, William Jordan Luke, William Albert 
Lawson, Arthur W. Lawson, Victor Hugo Lewis, Edd Herman 
Lowe, Sylvester Lowe, Fred Lambert, James E. P. Lockhart, 
George W. Lowe, Vess C. Lowe, Lindsay Lowe, T. O. Laird. 

Robert Leslie Maxwell, William Music, Arthur Price Morton. 
Vinton Robert Moss, Hubert Pontell Meredith. Glenn White Martin, 
Joseph Anthony ISIacaro, Isaac Drayton Maxwell, Robert H. 
Mahood, Will Rees Murray. Thomas Lee May. Joe JNIelfa, Lee 
Myers, Edward A. S. Mitchell. William Leece May, Charles D. 
Mattox, James M. Moore, Paul INIallory, John M. Mobray, Walter 
Monk, William Mitchell, Jr., Thomas Augustus Marrs, Robert 
Meadows, David Acuff Mahone, INIark S. Mallory, Rees Munday, 
Marvin Edward Meadows, Columbus Moore Mothena, George W. 
Mitchell, James Archabald Moore, Samuel Davidson May. George 
Spotts Moore, Thomas T. Moore, Charles Walter INIoore, Morris 
Magrill, William Dudley Marrs, George Clarence Mai*tin, Louis 
Cleveland Marshall. John Martin, Robert Owen Morgan. 

Henr}' J. McGlothlin, Lindsay T. McGuire. Frazier Buford 
McMeans, Henry Guy McKinney, Albert Lester JNIcMeans, Paigene 
Lanoy McGinnis, Ellis V. McFarland, Archie Patton McKenry, 



and Southwest Virginia 677 

John McGuire, Samuel E. McMullin, William E. McCall, James 
Okey McNeely, Lawrence W. McFarland, George Peery McGuire, 
Robert Daniel McCall, Charles Grant McGlothlin, Lorenzo A. 
McGlothlin. 

Gordon Thomas Neel, Guy Henry Nash, Suddeth Walton Neel, 
Wiley Stuart Neal, Henry Clarence Neel, P'red Thomas Nash, 
James Corbett Neel, Ira Lacy Neel, James Henry Neal, Levi 
Walker Neel, William Henry Neel, Kyle Nipper, John H. Newman, 
Robert Sidney Neel, George C. Nicewander, John Estil Neel, James 
Thornton Neel, James Alderman Newton, Wiley Newberry, George 
Nichols, Henry Guy Norman, William Herald Nixon, Lawrence O. 
Nelson. 

William Harvey Osborne, Vista Osborne, Isiah Osborne, Neely 
Osborne. 

Bart Edwin Pruett, William Henry Phillips, Charles George 
Powers, Howard Lacy Peak, Clarence Eugene Peery, Henry Porter, 
William Albert Peery, Kenneth C. Patty, Archie Lee Pruett, Max- 
well A. Pruett, John Richard Peery, George E. Pruett, Walter 
Stuart Patrick, Charles Clarence Peery, Robert A. Pack, Bane 
Gustaff Peery, Walter Sherman Patrick, Lewis Parker Pruett, 
Robert C. Pack, William Pierce, Augustua Peery, Rush Floyd 
Pauley, Robert Pack, William C. Pruett, Walker Puckett, Walter 
Price, Mustard Pruett, Peter William Peterson, Leftridge C. Patton, 
Oscar Brown Pruett, Archie S. Powers, Garland Peery, Thomas 
Allen Peery, Clarence Henry Peery, William E. Peery, Jr., Archie 
Riley Pruett, Frank Pierce Pickle, Andrew McDonald Peery, Wil- 
liam Proffit, James Prophet, J. O'Keefe Peery, Lawrence S. Peak, 
Roscoe Pack. 

Byron Franklin Quillin, William L. Quesenbury. 

Rees Melvin Russell, William Everett Riley, James Arthur 
Riley, Witten Rucker, Floyd Repass, James William Rich, Creed 
Rose, Henderson J. Ruthledge, James Madison Roark, Jesse Marvin 
Rye, Walter Thompson Rye, Frank Ratcliff, Guy A. Rosebaum, 
John Gibson Repass, Carlile T. Rees, Charles B. Rosseau, Arthur 
Reedy, Leonard M. Reedy, John Thomas Roten, Sam P. Riley, Lacy 
Johnson Repass, Herbert Henry Rosenbaum, Maxwell A. Riley. 



678 History of Tazewell County 

James Alma Sluss, Ben Stacy, Norman Clarence Smith, Robert 
Cline Sparks, Thomas Lewis Shawver, Dudley Gratton Shrader, 
Luther Arch Settle, James Claude Sayers, Washington Lee Sayers, 
Walter Stuart, Curtis L. Shufflebarger, Sam Riley Smith, Sidney H. 
Shell, Horton Shepherd, William John Selney, Samuel S. Summers, 
Milton T. Simmons, Elisha Earl Stevenson, Everett Sluss, Charles 
Ai'nold C. Salyers, Hugh Thomas Stevenson, Louis Jackson Scott, 
Jonah F, Southern, Charles Whitt Sparks, Pearl Henry Slireve, 
John William Shawver, John Robert Saunders, John C. Steele, 
Alexander G. StClair, Floyd Henry Stevens, John Short, Jackson 
Sluss, James Clinton Sturgess, George W. Steele, Wash Lee Sayers, 
James Allen Smith, Ballard N, Short, William Newton Shuffle- 
barger, Robert Lee Spurgeon, Daniel Gratton Shrader, Clay 
Scyphers, Charles J. Stephenson, Joe R. Switalski, Meredith 
Strouth, Edgar Marion Steele, Frederick Wm. St. Clair, Robert 
Edgar Simpson, Rex E. Steele, Lucien Snodgrass, Lucian Smith, 
Thomas Ford Shamblin, Charles Russell Stinson, Geo. W. Simms. 

Leek Andrew Thompson, Clarence Kenny Turner, Roy Martin 
Triplett, Mercer Elliott Thomas, John Henry Tabor, John Davis 
Tabor, William Andrew Turley, William Erastus Tickle, William 
James Tiller, Roy Ashland Thompson, Adam Stephen Tabor, 
Greever Taylor, C. W. Thompson, Pose William Thomas, Robert 
Samuel Taylor, Walter Lee Taylor, Brown Taylor, Emory Lee 
Taylor, Foster J. Thompson, Benjamin H. Thompson, James 
Raleigh Twigg, Raleigh Totten, Oday C. Thompson, Sidney Taylor 
Tickle, Samuel Eli Turner, Eugene Thompson. 

Flem Vandyke, Pearl Vance, Charley Crockett Vance, Thomas 
Vandyke, Jesse W. Vernon, Doak Vandyke, John Alexander 
Vandyke. 

Martin Wilson, Dale West, Leek Evans Whitt, Charles Waldron, 
William Walter Watkins, Edward Whitman, Roby F. Wiles, Beverly 
Wade, Robert Johnson Wimmer, Samuel Henry Wimmer, Adam 
Greene Wagner, James Widner, Emory Wilson, Arthur Wimmer, 
Clarence Edwin Watkins, Joseph Shannon Wynne, John Thomas 
Worsham, George R. Walker, James Thomas Wilson, Thomas 
Marion Waldron. James Robert Whitley, Kent W. Witten, Roscoe 
Riner Wall, Fugatc Campbell White, Liiburn Benjamin Wilson, 



and Southwest Virginia 679 

Will Samuel Witt^ Spencer B. Warner, Samuel Luther Wliitehead;, 
William Welch, Kelly G. Wright, Andrew J. (of Robert) Witten, 
Frank Estil Williams, David Oscar Williams, John Clarence Whitt. 
Willi Otis West, John Carl Witt, Elias Whitt, John Aaron Waldron, 
Arthur Monroe Woody, Archie Zack Whitt, Albert Glenn Wynn, 
Tom Wilson, Robert A. Walker, Joseph E. Whitt, Hobart William 
Webb, McKinley Wiles, W. P. Wyatt, Jesse Andrew Woods, Eugene 
B. Witten, Jack W. Witten. 

Charles W. Yates, James Richard Young, David William Yost, 
Henry Peery Yost, Clarence Kelly Yost, James Harvey Yates, 
Edward Roy Yost, Charles George Yost, Levi Jesse Yates, Paul 
Richard Yost. 

George L. Zimmerman, IgTiatz Zachosky. 

Total 628. 

NAVY. 

White. 

Charles R. Brown, Jr., William Jefferson Brown, William Arnold 
Burton. 

A. J. Collins, Samuel William Carter, Bishop Hicks Coon, Paul 
Crockett. 

James R. Doak, 

Jesse F. Earnest. 

Willie Guy French. 

Jesse Samuel Gillespie, Charles Greer, Paul Gydosh. 

Will Neal Hurley, Eugene Claude Harman, Rufus Crockett 
Harrison, John Jas^Der Henkle, Daniel Henry Harrison. 

James Vernon Johnson, Everett Johnson, Roscoe Kelly Jones. 

David Roscoe Kitts, Robert Ernest Kitts. 

Robert Lee Longwortli, Sam. J. Lubliner, Thomas Lawrence 
Lowe. 

Cliarles Franklin Medley, Robert Henry Moore, Thomas Fair- 
fax Martin, Cecil Martin, Clarence Myers. 

Walter McGhee, George Gordon McBride, George William 
McCall, Harvey Grat McMullin, Henry L. McCall, William Lewis 
McMullin, George O. McGuire. 



680 History of Tazewell County 

Bud Neal. Vance Clayton Neece, James Curtis Neel. 

James Walter Peery. Haynes Graham Preston, Raymond Sur- 
face Peer}-, George Armstead Pobst, Cornwell A. Peverall. Samuel 
C. Peery, Jr., Earl McMinn Pruett, Charles Fudge Peery. 

Grady Lee Ross. 

Sherman Lee Slaughter, Robert L Sarver, Thomas Monroe 
Sayers, Rees Bowen Thompson, John Thompson, Arthur Taylor. 

Everett Woods, Beverly Walton White. 

Total 63. 

MARINES. 
White. 

Wm. Byrd May Chapman. 

Henry P'ranklin Gilmer. 

Thomas Robert Harrison, Mathew Butler Hammit, Robert Smith 
Hopkins. 

Cecil Addison Mowles, John Earnest McMullin. 

James Beverly Neal. 

Eugene Pierce, Wm. Donreath Poindexter, Joseph Everett 
Porter. 

Alderson Sexton, Kennerly Sexton, Gillespie R. Smith. 

Andrew J. Witten. 

Total 15. 

S. A. T. C. 

White. 

Wm. Gordon Bottimore, Benjamin Elbert Bates, Rufus Brittain, 
Samuel E. Baylor. 

William Pamplin Crabtree, Thomas Healy Campbell, Robert V. 
Crockett. 

Tyler McCall Frazier. 

Charles Dewey Garland, Robert Gratton Gillespie. 

James Hudson Huftord, Walter Henry Hankins, Joseph N. 
Harker, Jr. 

Joseph N. Johnson. 

Hubert Elmer Kiscr. 

James Ed. Litz, Thomas Wright Lawford. 

Harry Fleming INfacom, Barns Thompson Moore. 

Victor W. McCall. 



and Southwest Virginia 681 

John Milton Newton, Jr., William Alexander Neel. 

Joseph Elmo Peery, Lawrence Russell Painter, Russell Barns 
Painter, James Sidnej^ Peery. 

John Charles Scott, S. Houston St. Clair, Tom Ganaway Spratt. 

Lacy Paul Wallace, Robert B. Williamson, James Albert 
Wag-ner, Uewey Clyde Wynn, Thomas Rawl Witten, Herbert Ward. 

Total 35. 



ARMY. 

Colored. 



Burnett Armstrong, Irving Armstead, Lee Alexander, Argro 
Armsteard, George Allen. 

Clarence Blackstone, John Robert Baldwin, Herbert Odis Bane, 
Arthur G. Bradshaw, Will Bradford, Robert Brooks, William Boat- 
man, Yoeman Braxton, Otis Butler, Emory Bailey, Charley Barnes, 
Sonny Branson, John Burford, Jim Ballinger, F. J. Brown, Kirt 
Bailey, Oscar Edward Brown. 

Herbert Cox, Rufus Conner, Henry Crockett, Emerson Carson, 
John Coulter, Levi Clark, Clarence Charlton, John Warren Carroll, 
Frank F. Carroll, Herbert B. Cross, Dan Crider, Robert Davis, 
Eugene Franklin, Frank Fuller, Leigha Ford, William Fleming, 
William McKinley Ford. 

Ben Glenn, Aubray John Gant, Charles Green, Edward Gate- 
wood, Clarence Gant, Stuart Gillespie, Lacy George, Clarence W. 
Goodman, Forace Gallman, Edd Graham, Sellers Gilliam, Walter 
Green, Lacy Goodman. 

Raish Hodge, Hampton Holly, James Haskins, Will Hall, Willie 
Hightower, W^m. A. D. Hickmond, Johny Howe, Earl Horton, 
Raleigh Holly, Otey Wm. Hunter, Robert Harber, Frank Harber, 
Van June Holland, Charles F. Hobbs, Andrew Hairston, Allen 
Harper, John Johnson Holly, Simon P. Holly, Roscoe McClure 
Harman, Harman Harris, Ulyses Higginbotham, James Harris, 
James Higginbotham, Hobart Harris. 

Sam Ingram. 

Charles Robert Johnson, Timothy Elias Johnson, Granville 
Jackson, Jefferson S. Jordan, Grant Johnson, Eddie Jeffries. 
Henry King, Rolen Kee. 



682 History of Tazewell County 

Lac}^ Benjamin Lewis, James Leeee, Ira Lanier, John Wyatt 
Lawrence. 

James Molton, I>ee Moseley, Jesse M. Morris, James Mack, 
Simon Maddox, Thomas Elbert Matney, Andrew Morehead, Joseph 
Moore, William Edward Morris, Charlie Morgan, William Murphy, 
Lura Morton. 

Robert A. Nickerson, Trevalyn Milton Nash. 

Lacy Owens. 

Robert Preston, James Poindexter, Lacy Preston Peery, Joseph 
Jethro Pratt, Henry Phillips, Charles Pepper. 

Jack Robinson, Walter Rippey, Robert Robinson, Ernest Rey- 
nolds, Sam Robinson, Eddie Roberson, Will Roland, W^illiam Pies 
Robinson, Roy Rose, George Robinson. 

Governor Walker Smith, Tom Stiff, George Allen Saunders, 
Charles A. Sinkford, Raymond Streets, Charles Smith, Raymond B. 
Steele, Roy Scott, William G. Smith, John Steeples, Ballard 
Sanders, Boykin Stone, George Marion Staley, Charles George 
Steele, Roy Stuart, Richard Sinkford, Walter Franklin Smith, 
James Saunders, Elmer Sandj^. 

Marvin Thompson, Robert Thompson, George Turpin, Wm. 
Lawrence Thompson, Isaac Turpin, Fess Thompson, Alexander 
Toliver. 

Lewis Williams, Harry White, Telfair Washington, William 
Webster, Ben Worley, Walter J. Ward, Thomas E. Warren, Felix 
Walker, Henry W^ilson, Charley Walker, Lee Williams, John Rufus 

Webb, Snooks Willis. 

Total 158. 

S. A. T. C. 



Colored. 



Walter W. Jackson. 
Horace Bowser Logan. 
Thomas H. Mitchell. 
Cecil E. McCollum. 
Dewey Rowden. 
Arthur Scales. 
James Lightbum Woody, 
Bernard Isom Witten. 
Total 8. 



and Southwest Virginia 683 

The following is a list of men from Tazewell County who were 
killed in action, or died from disease, or other causes, in France 
and in the training camps in the United States: 

White. 

Pola Andrew Brooks, George Dewey Bowman, Martin Luther 
Bowling, Ervin Bane. 

Paul Crockett, S. M. B. Coulling, Jr., William Henry Cole, 
Aaron Carter. 

Fielden Kirk Earles. 

Joe Farris. 

Carnie J. Gillespie, John A. Graham. 

David Paul Harris, William Henry, William Harman, Carey 
John Hodge, J. E. Hurt, Reese Hall, Henry Ingle, Thomas A. 
Jackson. 

Robert Frazier McMeans, Thomas D. McCracken. 

Henry Clarence Neel, Robert Sidney Neel, Wiley S. Neal. 

Augustus Peery, William E. Peery, Jr., Joseph Everett Porter, 
Lawrence S. Peak, Roscoe Pack. 

Leonard M. Reedy. 

John Short, Wash Lee Sayers, Thomas Ford Shamblin, James 
Clinton Sturgess, William John Selney. 

Roy M. Triplett, Samuel Eli Turner, Benjamin H. Thompson. 

Doak Vandyke. 

Samuel Henry Wimmer, Emory Wilson. 

James H. Yates. 

Colored. 

Elmer Band3^ 

James K. Haskins, Hannan Harris. 

Roy Rose. 

Charles Arthur Sinkford. 



684 History of Tazewell County 



LOCAL BOARD. 



S. S. F. Harman, Chairman. 

C. W. Greever, Secretary. 

Dr. P. D. Johnston, Medical Examiner. 

Nye Britts, Chief Clerk. 



MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD. 



Dr. W. R. Williams, Ur. M. B. Crockett, Dr. H. B. Frazier, 
Dr. Isaac Pierce, Dr. R. P. Copenhaver, Dr. W. E. Ritter. 



GOVERNMENT APPEAL AGENT. 

James W. Harman. 



INDEX 



Page 



Abb's Valley, Tazewell County, 

Va 54 

Forts .- 55 

Captives of.. .- - 60 

Patent for — 185 

History of 514-515 

Abingdon, Va.... .......275 ,300 ,363 ,378 

Aborigines 3 

Mexico and Peru 11-14 

North America 15 

Arcadia 89,193,194,195 

Accomac (Accammack) 

County ......131,140 

Adams, John Quincy....62,348,517,520 

Adams, Samuel . .344,347,348 

Albany, N. Y., Congress at. 190 

Albemarle County 171 , 173, 175 , 176 , 179 
Alexandria, Va., Washington, 

Starting from 190 

Braddock's Conference at 191 

Braddock's Start from 192 

Algongian Indians 16,43,87,107 

"All Saints Bay". 76 

Alleghany River 189 

Alleghany Mountains..l56, 159 ,323 ,325 

Allen, Ethan 346,348 

Allen, Hugh 313 

American Nation, Birth of 99-129 

Amusements Among Indians 64-65 

Andrews, E. Benjamin (Hitorian) 73 

Annals of Augusta County 159,161 

Annapolis, Nova Scotia.... 89,193 

Apalachee Wars 19 

Apalachee Tribe 23 

Appomattox Tribe 143 

Arbuckle, Matthew ...305,312,356 

Arcadians, French.... 69 

Deportation of. 193-195 

Archdale, Governor 44 

Argall, Capt. Samuel .....120,121 

Argall's Gift... -- 122 

Armstrong, John 195-196,198,203 

Aspinvale, Va 275,377 

Assembly of Virginia. First Elec- 
tion ; 122,125 

First Meeting 126 

Petition to James I 125 

Laws Enact- 
ed 127,128,129,139,333,662,670 

Atlantic Coast, Discovery of 91 



Page 
Atlantic, Mississippi <Sr Ohio 

R. R 662 

Augusta County — 

Formed 163,164 

Divided 179,229-230,291,305 

Men at Pt. Pleasant 306,311-313,326 

Dunnmore's War 328 

Austinville, Va 167,257 

AveriU's Raid 624-625 

Avills, Pedro Menendez de. 

Expedition to Florida .82-84 

Ayllon, Lucas Vasquez De 78,79 

Aztecs -. 5 

Laws, Astronomy, Agriculture, 
Mining, Religion, Human 

Sacrifices... 6 

Reading, Writing, Women, 

Hieroglyphics 11 

Currency 12 

Empire 77 

B 

Bacon's Rebellion ...52,136,138-146 

Plantation 138 

Expedition 138 

Commission 140 

Manifesto 141-142 

Bahamas Islands 77 

Balboa, Vasco Munez de 77 

Bancroft, 

Historian 29 ,54 , 69 , 93 , 193 , 201 

Barger, Philip 209 

Barns Family. 426-428 

Barrier, Casper — 207 

Batson, Mordecai 262 

Balte, Capt. Henry........ .....166,167 

"Battle Knob," Tazewell County, 

Va - 56 

Bay of Campeachy. 77 

Bay of Fundy 89,194 

Beaver Creek 265 , 266 

Bennett, Richard 134.135 

Berkeley, Gov. Wm., 52,131 , 133, 

134,135,138,139,145,165,166 

Bermuda Islands .117,120,134 

Beverly, Robt 142,143,155 

Bickley's Historv of Tazewell 
County. 53,54,55,56,57,60, 
171 232,234,246,248,254,293, 
294 , 360 , 366 , 526 , 533 , 659 , 660 , 667 

Big Bone Lick ,..r 211 

Big Glades 378 



(685) 



686 



INDEX 



I'age 
Bill of Rights- 
Continental 338 

Virginia 141,354 

"Birth of a Nation" (America)..,. 99 
Black Hills , Gold Discovered in... 26 

Black's Fort... 363 

Blacksburg, Va 168,207,261 ,268 

Bland County, Va . 667 

Bledsoe , Anthonv..... 257 , 260 

Blue Ridge Mountains 115,148,155 

Bluefield, W. Va 663 

Bluestone River 185-209,275, 

277,283,299,300,334 

Bluestone Valley 515-516 

Bobadilla, Francisco de 74 

"Boom, The," of 1890 636 

Boone, Daniel, 260,263,270,298, 

299 , 329 330 , 331 , 132 , 334 , 360 , 370 

Booneshorough, Ky 332 

Boroughs in Virginia 122 

Boston, Mass., 194 343,344,345, 

346,347,348,352.660 

Boston (Port Bill) 336 

Botetourt, Lord 36 

Botetourt County, Va 167,168, 

279,291, 305, 31l',312, 313, 325, 328, 364 

Formed 229-230 

Bowen Family 407-410 

Bowen Homestead 295 

Bowen, Capt. Henry 636 

Bowen, Moses.... .286,314,323 

Bowen, Rees, 269,286,287 288, 

314 366,367,379,383,384 

Bowen, Rees T 408 

Bowen, Samuel Cecil 666 

Bowen, Maj. Thomas Peery 624 

Bowen, Wm. .286.288,313,314,378,379 
Braddock, Gen. Edward, 45-191- 

192,194-196,199,203,207,304,315 

Braxton, Carter 351 

Brewster, Ebenezer 255 

Bristol, Va 659 

Brit ish Government , 172 , 327 , 328 , 

335,336,337,338 

British Parliament 337 , 338 , 339 

Brittain, Major Rufus 545 

Broad Ford, Va 169,277 

Brown, John, Insurrection 585-592 

Brown, Low 372 

Browne, G. W. C 660 

Brushy Mountain ....294 365 

Buchanan County 179,667,668 

Buchanan, Va 167 

Buchanan, Archibald 169,294 

Buchanan, Col. John 164,171, 

175,180,224 

Buchanan, Capt. John 169,295 

Buford, Capt. Thos. .291 ,305,311 , 

313,322 



Page 

Bunker Hill 347,348.349 

Bullocks, Leonard H 330 

Burbridge Raid 628-631 

Burgesses Chosen 122.126,146,147 

Burke's Garden — 

Origin of Name 170 

Patent for 185,277,367,659,671 

Burke, James 170 

Burning Spring 262 

Burroughs, Anne 113 

Byrd, William 259,330 



Cabell, Wm 351 

Cabins of Pioneers 243-244 

Cabot, John 76,85,90-92 

Cabot , Sebast iano 76 , 90-92 . 186 

Calhoun, John C 520 

California, State of. 576,577 

Cambridge, Mass 343,344,346 

Cameron, Alexander, .4gent 37 

Cameron, Allen 352 

Camp Union, 290,291,305.306, 

309,314,323 

Campbell, Arthur 36,257 

Letter to Dan Smith.. 283-284 

Campbell, Charles 165,169,177 

Campbell, John 287.292,294,364 

Campbell, Wm., 275,281,3-^0,350, 

377,378,380 

Campbell's Fort ..293,295 

Canada. ...102 , 1 60 , 1 63 , 1 64 , 

186,352,359,360 

Cut off from Louisiana 198 

Cape, Breton 9^ 

Charles 106,120 

Comfort 107,116 

Fear River... 85 , 101 

Girardeau 47 

Good Hope 78 

Hatteras 91 

Henry 106 

Carroll County, Va 377,378 

Carter, Dale 301 ,302 

Cartier, James 86,87 

Castle's Woods, 257.269,273,279, 

285,298,299 

Castle's Garrison 299 

Cave Gap 176,177 

Cavendish, Thomas 95 

Cayuga Indians ...17,321 

Cecil, Samuel...^ 57,299 

Cecil, William...... 57 

Cecil Family <. 404-406 

Chabot, Admiral 86 

' Chaleurs, Bay of. 86 

Champlain, Samuel 89 

Chapman, Hon. Henley. 182483 



INDEX 



687 



Page 
Character of First Settlers in 

Virginia... 103-1 16,118,119 

Charles I. of England..l06, 130 , 131 , 133 
Charles II. of England, 133,134, 

136,137,142,144 

Charles V. of Spain 8,78,79,82,92 

Charles IX. of France 88 

Charles City County 122,131 

Charles River Shire 131 

Charleville (French Trader).... 44-4.5 
Charter for Virginia, 61,62,102, 

103,112,120,130 
Cherokee Indians — • 

Territory. 30-31 

Clans 31 

Origin of Name 31 

Treaty with England... 30 

Hunting Ground 30-31,34-35 

Hunting Ground in Virginia 35 

Treaty with Virginia 33 

War with South Carolina 33 

War with South Carolina (1761) 34 

Allies of England (1776) 37 

Expedition Against in 1776. 38 

Expedition Against in 1779 39 

Alphabet in 1821 40 

Since 1835 40 

Removed to Territoiy. 40 

In Civil War. 41-42 

Slave Owners 41 

Nation 42,330 

Made Citizens 42 

Commission 42 

Forts 54-55 

Allies of Whites 2l9 

Territory Claimed 226 

Treaty of 1775 330,333 

Chesapeake Bay, 96, 101 , 106, 140 , 

146,351 

Exploration of U^ 

Cehew, Colby 172,178 

Chickahomiuy Indians 51 ,-''2 

Location 52 

Reservation 52 

Chickamauga, Settlement at _... 39 

Chickasaw Indians 19,21-22,44 

Conflict with Spaniards 21 

Conflict with the French 22 

Treaty with U. S 22 

Part of Choctaw Nation. 22 

In Oklahoma 22 

In Civil War. 22 

Allies of Whites._ 2l9 

Chillicothe (Ohio) 210,321 

Chiluk-ki (Choctaw) 31 

Chiswell Lead Mines 35,38 

Choctaw Indians 19,20-21 

Territory 20 

Origin of Name 20 



Page 

Choctaw Indians — ^Agriculture 20 

Citizenship 21 

In Civil War. 21 

In Oklahoma 21 

In 1916 .. 21 

Christian, William 38 , 257 , 258 , 

271-275,340 

City of Henricus . 122 

Civil War, Causes of 563,604-605 

Civilization, Essentials of 671,672 

Claiborne, Wm 130 

Clark's Expedition to Illinois..370-375 
Clarke, Gen. Geo. Rogers, 39, 

266,319,320,329,361,362,370-375 

Clay, Henry 577 

Clear Fork Valley. 516 

CI mch Mountain 175,294,338 

Clinch River. 180,255 

North Fork 365 

South Fork 365 

Settlements 224-230 

Clinch Valley- 
Indians 42 

Upper 293 

Lower 260 

Settlers 365 

Settlements 361-374 

Clinch, Wm. 167 

Clover Bottoms 283 

Coal Depots 179 

"Coal Land" 180 

Code of Laws, Indian 59 

Coinage 480-481 

Coligny, Admiral 88 

College at Henrico.. 123,127 

College of William and Mary 323 

Colonial Council 104-105 . 107 , 

108,109,125 

Colonial Governor's Power 130 

Columbus, Christopher....3,74,75, 

85,90,94 

Comanche Indians ..27,82 

Tribe of Shoshone 27 

Territory. 27 

Treaties with U. S 27 

Reservation 27 

Report of 1916 27 

Combahee River. 78 

Commerce — ■ 

Phoenecian 12-13 

Colonial 133 

Commissioners to Investigate the 

Colony 124 

Committee of Safety .....339,340,351 

Community Life, Colonial 241-255 

Community System, ColoniaL.110,121 

Concord, Mass 344,345 

Confederate Cabinet 598 

Confederate Capital, Richmond ... 604 



688 



INDEX 



Page 
Connolly, Dr. John, 265,352,356,358 

Constitution of Virginia 355 

Constitut ional Convention 353-356 

"Constitutional Union Party" 594 

Continental Congress 333,337 

Cordova, Ferandez de 77 

Corn Laws.. ...324,333 

Cornstalk, Shawnee 

Chief. 309,310,315.316,317 

Cornwallis, Lord 151,382 

Cortes , Herando 5 , 8 , 77 , 78 

Councils, 

Colonial. 104 , 105 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 130 
Counties — 

Organized 126 

Formed 131 

Crabapple Orchard, Tazewell 

County, Va 571 ,71 , 180 

Creek Indians 19 , 20-21 

Origin of Name 19 

Location 19 

Allies of English 19 

Treaty of 1703-08 19 

Treaty of 1790 19 

Nation in 1916 20 

In War 23 

Creek War 1813-14 22 

Cresap, Capt. Michael....265,266, 

267,297,320 

"Croatan" 98 

Crockett, Capt. Robt 367 

Last Encounter with Indians 466-467 

Crockett's, P^ort at 54,56 

Crockett , Walter. 257 , 258 , 340 

Croghan, George 263 

Cromwell, Oliver 134-136,143 

Culbertson's Bottom 282 

Cull, James 207,210 

Culpeper County..l45,164,182,291,305 

Cumberland, Duke of 169,176 

Cumberland Gap 169 , 173 , 176-178 

Cumberland Gap and Fincastle 

Turnpike 670 

Cumberland Gap and Graham 

Road 670 

Cumberland Mt., Origin of Name.. 169 

Cumberland River .176-178 

Cumming, Sir Alexander.. 32 

Cummings, Rev. Chas 340,342 

Cundiff, John 314 

Curl's Wharf.. 138,139 

Currency, Aztecs 12 

Peruviaa 12 

Tobacco. 148,164 

D 

Dakota Tribe 25 

Location of 25 

Allies of the British in 1812 25 



I'ase 

Dakota Tribe, Social Organization 25 

Polygamy 25 

Treaties with U. S 25 

Dale, Sir Thomas 119,120,121 

Dare, Virginia 97,98, 146 

Darien, Isthmus of. 77 

Dartmouth, Earl of, 266,303,323, 

325,326,327-339.521 

Davis, James 168,278 

Davidson, Andrew 462,464 

Davidson, John 461-462 

Declaration of 

Independence, 1776 385,17,672 

Delaware Indians 42 

Treaty Violated by 195 

Friendly 204 

Council of, 206.267,303,304 309,356 
Delaware, Lord (Thomas 

West) 116,119,121,126 

Democracy, Jeffersonian 518-520 

Democratic Party, Formation of, 565 
Democratic Convention of I860.... 593 

Denard's Ford 381 

De Soto, Fernando ...18,20,21,25, 

29 53 95 
Detroit, Mich., 186,199-200,210, 

321,352,357,358,373 
Dial, , Murdered by In- 
dians 459-460 

Dickinson, John 311 ,313 

Digges, Dudley.. 351 ,355 

Dinwiddie,Gov.33,187,189,196,197,206 

Discovery, Ship 105 

District of Columbia, Slavery in.. 577 

Dividing Ridge 181 

Divorce Among Indians 63-64 

Doach , Robt..257 , 258 , 275 , 278 , 292 . 296 

Doddridge. Historian 247,248-251 

Dolphin, Ship 85 

Dolsberry, Lyles 314 

Donelson, Col 36 

Douglas, James 258,260.261 286 

Dragging Canoe, Chief 39,330,331 

Drake, Capt 360 

Drake, Sir Francis 83,92,93,96,98 

Draper, Mrs. Geo .184,207 

Draper,Mrs.John (Betty) 207,210,211 
Draper, John, 207, 208, 210, 211, 215, 282 
Draper, Lyman C. ...216,280,308, 

379,381,383 
Draper's Meadows, 60,1591,68, 

173,184,262,275 

Draper's Massacre 207,217 

Dress of Pioneers .246-248 

Dress, Extravagence, Punished ... 127 

Drunkenness, Punished 127 

Dry Fork of Tug 269,273,295 

Duhlonega, Georgia 40 

Duncan, John 298,299 



INDEX 



f89 



I'agv, 

Dunkards Bottom 174 , 175 , 184 , 

214,215 
Dunmore, Gov., 257,265.279-282, 

306-309.316-327,349-352 

Dunmore's War 36,43,46 211, 

260 , 267 , 321 , 328 , 329 , 335 , 355 
Dutch Gap, Va. ....._ 120 

E 

East River 212 

"Eastern Shawnees" 50 

Eastern Shore 143 

Edmondson, Wra. 340 

Education, Indian 60-63,127 

Tazewell County 542-546 

Eggleston's Springs 213 

Election for General Assembly 122 

Election (President) of 1860....593-598 

Elizabeth City Shire 131 

Elizabeth, Queen of England.._.92 , 100 

Elizabethan Period 92-93 

Elizabethton, Tenn 379 

Elk Creek 262,305,306,307,314 

Elk Garden. 275,276,298 

England, War with France 186 

Contention Over Boundaries 193 

Erie Indians 17 

Eskimo Indians ^ 

Arts of - 16 

Characteristics of. 15-16 

Dwellings of 15-16 

Government 16 

Religion.. 16 

Estill, Judge Benjamin 531 

"Eternal City," (Rome) 99 

Evans Family Massacre 437 

Everard, Thos 355 

Expedition to Virginia, 1609 (3rd), 117 
Extermination of In- 
dians 124,280,281,327 

F 

Fairfax, Lord ...160,162,164 

Fallen, Robt 166 

"Falling Waters," Village of. 109 

"Father of His Country," First 

Public Service 189 

Ferguson, Patrick. 375-384 

Ferguson, Samuel 515 

Field, John....262, 291, 305, 306. 311-313 

Filmore, President 577 

Fincastle County^ 

Formed ......255-257 

First Court 257-258 

Indian Invasion. 259-318 

Ohio Expedit ion .290-318 

Freeholders of 340-343 

Address to Representatives 340-343 

Civil Government 355 

First Cargo to England 110 

T.H.— 44 



Page 
First Settlers in Virginia — 

Character of .....103-116 

Sufferings of .....Ill , 113 

"First Supply" for Colonists 113 

Fiske, John," (Historian), 75, 105, 

114,126,147,155,156.161 

Five Civilized Tribes 20,21,24 

Five Nations, The 17 

Flat Top Mountaia.._ 179 

Coal Developments 663 

Fleming, Col. Wm., 291,306,310- 

312,314-316,322,330 

Flirting, Punishment of 127,128 

Florida Ceded to U. S. 1823 23 

Origin of Name 77 

Spanish Expedition to 79 

Huguenots in 82 

French in. 87 

Ceded to Great Britain. 201 

Flowerdien Hundred 122 

Floyd, John, Capt., 258,260,261, 
262,264,265,269 270,290, 

314,326,330,332,370 

Expedition to Kentucky 262-263 

Fontaine, John 149,155 

Food Control...... 128-129 

"Forestallers" (Speculators).. 129 

Forrest, Mrs._ 113 

Fort— Blackmore ...285 , 296 , 299 , 301 

Blair 322 , 323 , 352 , 356 

Binford 267 

Chiswell.. 271,278,363 

Cumberland 192,193,196 

Dmwiddie 196 

Dunmore 290 

DuQuesne, Battle 

of 45,189,192,198,207,211 

Edward 195 

le Boeuf 188 

Loudon 33 

Loudoun _ 197 

Meigs 49 

Mimms 20 

Miami 199 

Monroe 107 

Moultrie 24 

Necessity. 190 

Onatanoii 199 

Pitt 200 , 265 , 290, 352 , 356 

Preston. 285 

Randall 26 

Randolph 356 

Rosalie 186 

St. Joseph 200 

Sandusky. 200 

StanwLx. 35 , 55 , 259 , 324 , 329 

Stephenson 49 

Vass....._ 215-217 

Wayne. 48 



690 



INDEX 



Page 

Forts, Frontier 242-243 

Fourteenth Amendment 634 

Fowey (Warship) 350 

France — 

War with England 186 

Contention Over Boundaries 193 

War with Prussia 201 

Francis T., of France.. 85 

Franklin, Benjamin ...191 ,261.348,517 

Loyalty to England. 202 

Frederick County 

Formed. .163-164,304 

Frederick the Great, of Prussia... 201 

Free School System. . .545-546 

" Free-Soilers" 579,581 

French Discoveries and Con- 
quests — 73-84 

French Huguenots, Florida 69 

French Settlement in America .89,186 
French and Indian War, 45,46, 

186-224.261,304,346,370 

Results of 201,203 

Frobisher, Martin 92,98 

Frontier Forts 242-243 



G 

Gage, Gen 343,344,346,347,352 

Gama, Vasco de 100 

Games, Indian 65 

Gauley Mountain 306 

Garrison^ 
At Maiden Spring Fort 286 

At Witten's Fort 287 

Gates, Horatio 203 

Gates, Sir 

Thomas.. 12,102,117,118,119,120 
Geo. I., King of England. 148, 149, 155 

George II., of England 171,225 

George III., of England, 32,144, 

202,328,339,341,343,348 

George, Col. Harvey 533 

Georgia — 

De Soto's Expedition 81 

Cherokees in 268 

Laws Against Indians 90 

Choctaws in 21 

Militia in Indiana War 23 

Gold Discovered 40 

German Huguenots 160 ,366 

Gibson, John 267,320,321 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey 93-94,101 

Gilbert, Joseph 368 

Gilbert, Raleigh 102 

Giles County, Va 181,182,281 

Gillespie Family 428^29 

Girty, Simon 305,308,309,358 

Gist, Christopher 172,173,181- « 

183,188,189,204-206,324 



Past- 
Gist Expedition. 172,173,181 

Godspeed, Ship 105 

Gold Discovered in Sioux Terri- 
tory. - 26 

Gold Discovered in Georgia 40 

Gooch, Gov 160,164 

Gorges, Sir Ferdinando 101 

Gosnold,Bartholomew,101, 105,106,112 
Government — • 

Proprietary. 32 , 130 

Royal 32 

Indiaa 58-59 

Of Early Colonists 105-106 

Local Self ... 121 

Representative . 122 

Food Regulation ...: 128,129 

Governor's Power, Colonial 130 

Graham, Col. William L 627 

Graham, Tazewell County, 

Va 663,664,667,670 

Grand Pre, Destruction of. 195 

Great Britain. 338-343 

Great Island Treaty, 1776... 38-39 

Great Lakes 86,116,163,186 

Great Levels of Greenbrier 290 

Great Lick 159,173,224 

Great Meadows 190,304 

"Great Spirit," The 10 

Greathouse 266,267,321 

Green River 334 

Greenbrier Company 225 

Greenbrier River 175,178,179 

Grenville, Richard 95 

Guest's River 181 

Gulf of Mexico 74,186,201 

Gwynn's Island 351 

H 

Habeas Corpus 146 

Hagerstown, Md 352,356 

Hakluyt, Rev. Richard 102,107 

Hale, Dr. John 176,184,207,208, 

209,213,215 
Hambleton (Hamilton) , John....287 , 294 ' 

Hamilton, Alexander 518 

Hamilton, Henry. 357,358,359 

Hampton, Col. Andrew 377,378,381 

Hampton, Va 120, 122 

Hampton Roads 90 ,106.119 

Hancock, John 344,347 

Hanger, Maj. Geo 375 

Hanson, Thomas 261,262,263,270 

Hard Labor, South Carolina, 

Treaty of 1768 35,227 

Harman, Mathias 181 

Harm'an, Daniel, Killed by 

Indians 465 

Harman Family. 417-420 

i Encounter with Indians 455-458 



INDEX 



691 



Page 

Harmon, Adam 213,214,215 

Harmon, Israel. 2761299^518 

Harmon, Jacob '.276;518 

Harrison, Capt '3II 

Harrison, Gen. Wm. Henry 48,50 

Harrisson, Col. Joseph 639 

Harrod, Col. James 270,314,332 

Harrodsburg. 270,332,361,363.371 

Helm, Capt. Leonard .. .373 

Henderson, Col. Richard.. 330-333 

& Company 334 

Henderson's Transylvania Co.. 332 

Henrico College 61 , 123 , 124 , 127 

Henrico Shire 'l31 

Henry VII., of England 90-91 

Henry VIII., of England .... 91-92,337 
Henry, Patrick, 259,263,330,333, 

348-351,355,371 
Henry Family Massacre... .295, 300, 434 
Herbert, Capt. Wm....281,294,296 314 

Hickman, Joha 323 

Hochelaga, Island of 87 

Hojeda, Admiral 75 

Holston — ■ 

Valley -31,36,167,175,184,318,377 

River. 168,272,302.364,376 

Settlements ...175 , 285 , 286,302 , 

361,371,372,376-379 

"Home Manufacturers" 525-529 

Hopewell Treaty, 1786..; 22 

House of Bur- 
gesses 126-127,129,132,280,353 

Howe, (Histo- 
rian) 131,139,321,325.326,336 

Howe (Eng. Gen.) 197,346,347,358 

Huguenots — 

In the Carolinas 83 

In Florida 82.88 

Massacre 84 

Hunters. Pioneer. .....253-255 

Huron— Iroquois Nation 17 

I 

Iberville River 201 

Icelandic Manuscripts 74 

Illinois Indians 159,160 

Illinois, State of 164,319 

Claimed by Virginia. 187 

Clark Expedition to 370-375 

Immigrants, Scotch-Irish... 157 

Incas 8,9 

Indian — Amusements 64-65 

Athletics 64-65 

Ball Playing 64-65 

Civilizatioa 58-60 

Code of Laws 59 

Councils i "^ 59 

Dancing 64-65 

Educational System.- 60-61 



Page 

Indian — Games 65 

Government 4o'",'58-59 

Hunting Groimds 159 

Kindergarten Qi 

Language (Written) [[[ 59 

Magic Power 67 

Marriage Customs 63-64 

Masquerade 114-115 

Massacres in Tazewell Co....434-468 

Medicine Maa 68 

Missions 147 

Religion !65-69 

Remains.- i67 

Schools !..62-63 

Superstitions 68 

Target Practice. 65 

Treaty of 1632 [ 124 

Tribes (see Names). 

Wars 20 

Witchcraft..- 68 

Women in Council 59 

Indian Bureau, U. S 62 

Indian River. 168 

Indian Territory is 

Creeks Removed to, 1836 20 

Choctavvs Settle in 21 

Cherokees Removed to. 40 

Opened to White Settlers, 1889 42 

Shawnees Moved to 50 

Indians, Extermination 

of 124,280,281,327 

Industry of Pioneers 522-529 

Ingles, MrL-. Wm 207-214,262,263 

Ingles, Wm 170,173,174,184 

185,208,216,251,258,340 
Ingles, Thom- 
as 60,159,184,208,210,277 

Ingles Family Capture 443 

Insurrection of John Brown .. 585-592 

Iron Movmtain 300,363,365 

Iroquois Nation, 18,22,31,35,55, 

321,324,329,356,357 

In 1890 18 

In the Revolution 18 

Confederation 58 

Treaty with 259, ?64 

Ita (Sun) 8 



Jackson, Andrew. 20,23,156,519,520 

Jackson, Stonewall 148 

Jackson's River. 175 , 196 

Jacobs, Capt., Delaware 

Chief..... 195,196 

James I., of England, 62,100,102, 

104,105.114,123,125 

Death of. 130 

Colonizing Ulster 156 

Charters Granted by 163,331 



692 



INDEX 



Page 

James City Shire 131 

James River 108,115,138,143, 

146,167,172,173,179 

Exploration of 109 

Description of Ill 

Trees... Ill 

Fruits Ill 

Game Ill 

Branch of. .'. 175 

James River Valley 159,167 

Attacks on Settlers of 207 

Jamestown, 51,52,85,98,108,112, 

117,119,122 130,133,134,140, / 
143, 145, 146, 148, 281, 327« 

Council, 1619 61^ 

Settlement of .99-129 

Forts at 108, 110 

First Church at 126 

Jamestown Island, Description 

of 107-108 

Jefferson, Thos., 52,53.106,141, 
145,161.321,329.333 355, 

364,371,517,523,524.672 

Secretary of State 517-518 

Theory of Government 519 

On Agriculture 523 

"Missouri Question".... ...564-565 

.Jeffersonian Democracy.... 518-520 

John Brown Raid .' 586-592 

Johnson, Sir Wm .. 198,220 

Johnston, Dr. George Ben 659 

Johnston, John Warfield 539 

Johnston, Wm 330 

Jones, Rev. Hugh 149 

Jones, Capt. Jno. Gabriel 361 

Jumonville, French Commander.. 190 



K 

Kanawha River, 206,209-212,259- 

262,290,301-326,356-360 

Kanawha Valley 259,260,305,329 

Kaskaskia 159,186,372.373,374 

Kentucky, 159,164,169,173,176, 
177,178,181,187,205,259,261, 
262 , 263 , 264 . 268 , 270 , 326 , 328 , 
329 , 331 , 332 , 333 , 334 , 360 , 361 , 

362,363,370,371,374 

County Formed 356,361-363.364 

Settlement of 328-334 

Suffrage Qualification 363-364 

Kentuckv 

River 270,272,275,330,331,359 

Kindergarten, Indian 61 

King William County, Va 51,52,53 

King's Mountain, Battle 

of 277,375-388 

Kittanning (Indian Town) 195,198 

Klamath Tribe ., ... 28 



Page 
L 

Labrador, Discovery of 90,148 

Laird, James 379,387 

Lakes — Champlain 89 , 346 

Erie..... 86,151 

Huron ; 86 

Michigan 199 

Maurepas 201 

Ontario 86 

FontchartraiiL 201 

Superior 86 

Titicaca 8 

Lammey, Samuel 295 

Land Grants 137 

West of Alleghany 

Mountains.. 323,329,334 

Land, Private Ownership of 121 

La Roche, Marquis 88 

La Salle, Robt., de 186 

Laudonniere 84,88 

Lead Mines 35 38,257,271 

In Wythe County 167 

In Fincastle County....340,349, 

355,377,378 

Lee, Richard 142 

Lee, Richard Henry. 340 

Lee, Robert E., Commander in 

Chief of C. S. A._ 603-604 

Legislature, First in Colonies.. 122, 126 

Lenard, Henry 207,210 

Leon, luan Ponce De 77 

Lewis, Andrew, 33,46,161,196, 
203,219,225,259 279,290, 
291,302,303,306,307.309, 

311-318,325,326,351,352 

Lewis, Charles 38 , 161 , 291 , 305 , 

306,311,312,313 

Lewis, John 160,161,164,306,312 

Lewis, Thomas 161,164,171 

Lewis Expedition 284,285,293,328 

Lexington, Battle of. 345 

Lincoln, Abraham 22,145,162,519 

Letter to Stephens...-. 597 

On Slavery 597-601 

Lochaber. S. C 326.329 

Lochaber Treaty 36,228,230 

Logan, Benjamin 332 

Logan, Mingo Chief 360,371 

Massacre of Familv 266 

Sister's Child .'. 267 

Letter to Cresap 297 

Message to Dunmore 320-321 

Origin of Name. 321 

Logstown, Council with Indians 

at 188,204,205,206 

London Company — 

First Charter, 102,103,104.112, 
113,114,117 120,123, 
124,127,130,148,155,163 



INDEX 



693 



Page 
London Company — • 

Second Charter 116-117,130 

Third Charter. 120 

General Court of. - 122 

Dissohition of. 125-126 

Petit ion Against 131-132 

"Long Hunters" 31 

Long Island, Holston River. 38 

Looney, Absalom 514 

Loudoun, Lord, superseded 197 

Louis XV., of France 191 

Louisa River. .269 , 273 , 276 

Louisiana, Colony 

of 150,186,198,261,329 

Louiston, Ohio 50 

Louisville, Ky 181 ,205 

Love, Capt 311 

Loyal Company, Land Grant..34, 
171,172,173,180.181, 

185,224,225,226,327 

Lybrook , Philip. 208, 209 , 281 

Lybrook Family 82-284 

Lybrook Massacre 281-282 

Lynchburg, Va 173,658 

Lynnhaven Bay 107 

Lynnhaven River 106 

Mc 

McClannahan, Capt 312,313 

McClehany, James 286 

McClure, Capt. Francis 267 

McCorkle, James 355 

McDonald, Col. Angus 304 

McDowell, Col. Chas 377 

McDowell, Col. Joseph 376 

McDowell County, W. Va.— 

Wealth of. 556-559 

In World War. 558-559,667,668 

McGavock, James 257,258,340,355 

McGrifif, John. 281,282- 

McGriff, Thos 282 

McGuffin, John. 262 

McKee, Alexander 358 

M 

Mad Anthony" (Gen. Wayne).... 47 

Magellan, Ferando de 7,77,78 

Magistrates Appointed 131 

Mahone, Gen. William 662 

Maiden Spring. ..269, 279 287,288, 

295,364,367 

Fort 286 

Mama Oella 8,9 

Manco 8,9 

Manito (Manitou) 67 

Mahteo, Chief Lord of 

Roanoke. 95 , 97 

Marion, Francis 33,34,203 

Marion, Smyth County, 

Va 36, 168, 174, 184 ,218 



Page 

Markeland 73-74 

Marlin, John 159 

Marriage, First in Virginia Colony 113 

Marriage Customs, Indian 63-64 

Martin, .John...... 106 

Maryland 138,146,158,161 

Massachussetts 41 , 146 336 , 343 , 344 

Massacre of 1622 123 

Of 1644 -. 132-133 

Draper's Meadows 204,207-217 

Fort Vass 216-217 

Mason, Geo. 141 

Mastodon Remains.. 500 

"Mattapanient," Indian Town 53 

Mattapony Indians 51 ,52,53 

Locatioa....- 53 

Reservation. 53 

"Mathalgalum"..._ 482 

Matthews, Samuel 124,134 

Maxwell, .James 276,515 

Maxwell, Thos, 276,277,288,299, 

300,368,379,515 

Maxwell's Gap. 277 

Marw^ell Family .......278,432-433 

Medicine Lodge Treaty, 1867 27 

Medicine-Man, Indian. 68 

Menendez de Avills, 

Pedro 69 , 82 , 84 , 88 

Mercer, Hugh. 196,203 

Mercer, James 351 

Mercer County, W. Va... .179,181,661 

Mineral Wealth... 559-560 

Mexican Indians 11 

Mexican War 571-576 

Mexico ..5 , 79 , 82. 329 

Miami Indians 205 

Miami River. 205 

Middle New River..... 181 

Settlements...^ 182 

Middle Plantation 140 , 142 

Military Government 634 

Mingo Indians, 206,267,293,297, 

302,309,318,319 

Missionaries Among Indians 61 

Mississippi River, Discovery 

of 81 , 172 173 , 186, 199 , 331 ,360 

Missouri Compromise... 563-566 

"Mistress of the Seas" (Eng- 
land) 92 

Moffit Children Captured 464 

Mohawk Indians 17 , 18 

Mohican Indians 44 , 204 

Monkton, Gen., Commander 

British Fleet 194 

Monongahela River .. 188 , 189 , 194 , 

206,297,359 

Monroe, Pres., James 23 

Montcalm, Gen 195,198 

Montezuma 8 



694 



INDEX 



Page 

Montgomery, John 39 , 257 , 304 , 

355 372 

Montgomery, Richard 197,203 

Montgomery County, Va.. 185, 21 6. 356 

Formed. 362-365 

Suffrage Qualification 363-364 

Montgomery, Thomas 33,34 

Monticello, Va 517 

Montreal, Can 87,89,199,200,206 

Mooney, James 309,311 

Moore, Henry 258 

Moore, Capt. James .233,388,411,451 

Moore, James .60,159,447,451,514 

Moore, Polly 60 

Moore, William 415 

Moore Family of Abb's Val- 
ley 411-417 

Moores, Massacre of ...451-454 

Moore's Fort 298,319 

"Morris Knob," Tazewell County, 

Va ...56,364,365 

Morgan, Daniel 203-305 

Moravian Missionaries.... 39 

Mont-Real (Montreal) 87 

Mount Vernon 201 

Mountain Lake, Giles County.. 181-183 

Moseoso _ 81 

Murray, John, Earl of Dunmore .. 257 

Murray, Capt. John 313 

Musgroye's Mill 376 

Muskogean— Indians 18-23 

Agriculture 18 

Dwellings 18 

Confederacies 18 

Muskingan, Indian Town 205 

N 

Naragansett Bay. '. 350 

Narvaez, Pamphilo de 79 

Nashville, Tenn. 44 

Natchez, Miss 81,186 

National Convention of 1852 578 

Nation's Pre-Incarial 10 

Navigation Law. 136 

NewEngland,133,151,156,346,347,349 

New Mexico, Territory of 577 

New River, 34,159,166-168,171, 
173,174,175,178 179,180,182, 
184,185,209-213,258,268,269, 
273,274 278,281-285,290,300, 

302 , 315 , 325 , 326 , 343 , 350 , 377 

Settlemenst ..276,282,285,302 

Valley. 166,214,268,281,300,362 

New River Railroad, Mining 

and Manufacturing Co 661 

New World, Discovery 73-76 

New York 146,150,160,203,326,375 

Indian Tribes in 191 

Volunteers from 192 



Page 

Newfoundland 74,85,86,93,118 

Newport, Capt. Christopher, 103, 

109,110,117,119,148,155,166 

Expedition to Virginia 105-108 

Return to Jamestown _ 112-115 

N iagara 186 , 200 , 206 

Fortifications at 191 

Surrendered by French 198 

"Nonesuch," (Site for Colony) 117 
Norfolk & Western R. R. Co., 

Organized 662-663 

North Carolina, 32,81,96,145, 
172,296,268,297,330,332, 
333,363 364,376,378,381,382 

Council of Safety, 1776 38 

Insurrection 145 

Northwestern Indians 259,328, 

331,356,357,370 

Nova Scotia 69,74,85,89,91,329 

First Permanent Settlement 193 

Oppression of People 194 

O 

Oconostota, Indian Chief. 32,331 

Ohio, State of, 164,262,264,267, 
279,281,284,285,287,297, 
301,302,303,304.306,314, 

321,325,332,336,352 

Claimed bv Virginia 187 

Ohio Company, 172,180,181,183, 

204-206,225 

Land Grant.... 172,187-189 

Organized.. 187 , 188 , 189 , 204-206 , 225 

Ohio Expedit ion... ._ 290-318 , 336 

Equipment 307 

Army Dress 307 

Fleming's Journal . ... . 315 

Battle of Point Pleasant 311-318 

Treaty with Indians 318 

Ohio Indians 265,268,322,329 

Ohio River, 159,172-181,259,262- 
270 279,282,290,293, 
303-322 , 328-334 , 356-372 

Falls of. 204-212,371 

Ohio Valley, 159,187,204,207, 

265,279,290,293 

Taken by France.— 190 

Fortifications in 191 

English Driven from 197 

Oklahoma 18,21,41 81 

Old Point Comfort 107 

"Omnibus Bill" 577 

Oneida Tribe 17,321 

Onondaga Indians.- 17 

Opechancanough, Indian 

Chief 52,123,133 

Orange County, Va 162,163,164 

Osceola, Indian Chief 23-24 

Ottawa Indians 204 .205.309 



INDEX 



695 



Page 
P 

Pacific Coast Indians 27-28 

Characteristics 28 

Government Report in 1917. 28 

Pacific Ocean, named in 1517 78 

Pacific Ocean, Route to 109 

Page, John 351 

Paint Lick Mountain 365 

Pamlico Sound 85,95 

Pamunkey Indians ....51-53 

Origin of Name 51 

Location ..51-52 

Reservation 52 

Panic of 1873 _ 662 

Panic of 1893 663-664 

Paris, Treatv of 187,200,202 

Patton, Col/Jas 165,174 207,217 

Patton-Walker Expedition 184 

Pauling. Capt 312 

Peerv, Maj. David 419 

Peery, Dr. Fielding 235 

Peery, John. 379 

Peery, Squire Thomas 255 

Peery, Thomas 379 

Peery, Wm 372 

Peery, Capt. Wm. E 671 

Peery Family. 279 , 289 , 420-424 

Pemberton, Richard.. 458-459 

Pendleton, Edmund... 340,351,353 ■ 

Pennsylvania 146, 156, 158, 159- 

161,174,183,215.262- 

267,298,321358,366 

Indian Tribes in 191 

Western Attacks Upon Settlers 195 

Percy, Geo ...106, 110, HI > 117, 118, 119 

Peru 7-9,25,79 

Agriculture. Artizans. Aque- 
ducts, Civilization, Domestic 
Arts, Indians, Irrigation of 
Land, Land Ownership, Mone- 
tary System, Religion. 
Philadelphia, Pa .... 89 , 157 , 336 , 

337,339,340,348 

Braddock's Retreat 193 

Philip II., of Spain 82.92,97 

Philip III., of Spain 103 

Phoenician Alphabet 12 

Phoenician Commerce , .12-13 

Pickaway Plains ; 309,317 

"Pioneers," Character of. 231-232 

Pioneer Families 401-433 

Pioneer Household Equip- 
ment 239-241 

Cabins 243-244 

Dress 246-248 

Hunters 253-255 

Industry 522-529 

Manufactures 522-529 

Social Customs 520-522 



Page 

Pioneers — Transportation. 524 

Weapons 242 

Wedding 248-253 

Pitcairn, Maj 344-345 

Pitt, Wm 197,339 

Pittsburgh. 188,190,265,266,290 

Strategic Importance of 189 

First Fort at... 189-190 

Name Given to 198 

Conference at. .303-3 1 8-325-352-37 1 

Pizarro, Francisco 7,9.79,80 

Pocahontas, Indian Princess.. ..112-115 

Baptism of. 120 

Marriage 120 

In England 121 

Death of 121 

Pocahontas , Tazewell County , 179 , 

181, 515, 663. 604,667,670 

Point Comfort. 116 

Point Pleasant, 46,261,216,161, 

270,281,286,310 

Battle of. 311-318 

Treaty of, 317-324,326,328,332, 

337,352,358,366 

Pontiac, Indian Chief 199 

Pontiac's War 200,267,304 

Poor Valley. 294 , 365 , 553 , 660 

Popham, George 102 

Popham, Sir John 102,103 

"Popular Sovereignty," 581 

Port Royal, Nova Scotia...' 89,193 

Postal System .147-151 

Postmaster General of Virginia, 

Colony 151 

Potomac River... 113,181,188 

Exploration of 113 

Pound Gap 181 

Poutrincourt, Captain 89 

Powell , Ambrose 172 , 176 , 178 , 179 

Powell Valley. 181,208,331 

Powhatan Con- 
federacy. .16,51,52,53,106,110 

Powhatan, Indian Chief....52,109, 

113,114,120,123,133 

Crowned King 114 

Vassal of England 114 

Powhatan, Village of 109,117 

Preston, Col. Thos. L.. 165,176 

Preston. Col. Wm., Journal of 220 

208,219,257,268,271,273,286, 

288-292 , 302 , 330 , 332 , 340 , 355 

Letter to Col. Christian 175 

Profiteering...^ 339 

Putnam, Israel , 203,343,647 

Q 

Quaker Meadows 380 

Quaker Missionaries in 1740 44 

Qualla Reservations, N. C 40 



696 



INDEX 



Page 
Quapaw Tribe 24 

Village 25 

Quebec, Can 87,89 

Taken from France..— 197 

"Queen Anne," Indian Queen 52 

Quillings 244-246 

R 

Raleigh, Sir Walter..93,95,98,100,101 

Randolph, Edmund 355 

Randolph, Hon. Peyton 340 

Rapidan River. 147,148,158 

Ratcliffe, 

John. 105,106,112413,115,118 

Ray, Joseph, Family Killed 465 

Raymbault, Chas., Jessuit 

Pioneer... 186 

Red Men, Origin of. 3 

Reed Creek 174 , 184, 273 , 283 , 362 

Settlement 286 

Valley 278 

Reedy Creek ...297 ,319 

Settlement.. 174 

Religion — 

Indian. 65 

Persecution. ...69 157 

Services in Virginia Colony. 108, 119 
Denominations in Tazewell 

County... 540-542 

Representative, Government 122 

Republican Part}', Origin of.. 571 

Reservations, Indian — 

Sioux. 26 

Comanches... 27 

Qualla, N. C 40 

Pamunkey 52 

Tulalip, Wash 62 

Revolutionary War. 267 . 305-388 

First Battle . 328 

Campbell Expedition to N. C... 388 

Spies.... 368 

Ribault, John. 88 

Rich Mountain, Va 56,57,293 

Battle of 55 , 671 

Rich Valley. 169,278,294,295,300 

Richlands, Tazewell County, 

Va 513,663,667 

Richmond, Va....l09, 117,138,168, 

349,351,353 

Confederate Capital 604,660 

Ridpath, (Historian) 195 

Roanoke (Lick), Va. 60,159 

Colony 96,113,146 

Indians 97 

Island (Wocoken) 94-97 

River 159 

Valley 168,173,184 

Roark, James 365 

Roark Family Massacre 440 



Page 

Roberval, Lord of 87 

Rockingham Countv 164, 167 , 179 

Rolfe, John 120,121,122 

Rolfe, Thomas (Son of Poca- 
hontas) 121 

Roads in Tazewell County 530-536 

Roosevelt, Theodore, W. 176, 242, 
243,246,265,315, 
321,322,357,359,380 

Roque, Francis de la 87 

Round Meadows 378 

Royal Councils 104-105,107,109 

Royal Government in 1776 37,328 

Royal Oak, Smyth County, 

Va 36 , 268 , 283 , 293 , 294 , 

295,297,300,361,365 
Russell, Wm., 257-260,263,274, 

281-29 1 , 302-3 1 6 , 323-342 

Russell Co 257 , 258 , 302 

Formed 391-392 , 670 



St. Augustine, Fla 24,77,83,84,120 

St. Croix River 186,194 

St. Helena Sound 78 

St. John's River, Fla 69,82,88 

St. Joseph River 186 

St. Lawrence, Gulf of 85,91 

St. Lawrence River, Discovery 

of 86,186 

St. Louis River. 86 

St. Pierre, Gea 188,189 

Sailing, John 60,159,160 

Saloop (Sassafras) 110 

Salt Pond 183 

Salt Pond Mountain 183 

Salt WoTkte, Battle of 628-631 

Sandy Expedition 218-223 

Sandy River 271,281,283,285 

Savannah Indians 44 

Scalps, Commercialized 204 

Price of 357 

Schools for Indians 62-63 

Scioto River. 205,210,211 

Scotch-Irish Pioneers 156 

Origin of Name 157 

Immigrants 157 

Scott County. 257,285,296,301 

Sea Venture, Ship.. 117,120 

Secession.. 596-605 

Seminole Indians ...19 ,22-24 

Origin of Name 22 

In War of 1775 23 

In War of 1812 23 

Treaty with U. S., 1832 23 

Reservation in Arkansas 24 

In 1916 24 

In Oklahoma 24 

Seneca Indians 17 , 18 , 199 ,204 



INDEX 



697 



Page 
Sequoya, Inventor of Cherokee 

Alphabet 40-41 

Settlements, Shenandoah Valley.. 155 

Seven Mile Ford 275 

Sevier, Col. John 376 379 

Shawnee Indians... 35-51 

In Clinch Valley 35 

Locatioa... 43 

Moved from South Carolina 44 

Settled in Virginia and Mary- 
land.. . 44 

Settled in Pennsylvania 44 

In French and Indian War... 44-46 

In Ohio, 1730... 45 

In Tennessee 45 

On Savannah River 45 

On Susquehanna 45 

Treaty of Greenville 45 

In Revolutionary War. 46 

Defeat the U. S., 1791.. .... 47 

Defeated by U. S., 1794 47 

Treaty with U. S., 1795 47 

In War of 1812 49 

Moved to Indian Territory 50 

Incorporated with Cherokee 

Nation, 1869 50 

Moved to Kansas 50 

In Oklahoma 50-51 

The Tribe 309 ,318 

Shelby, Capt. Evan.... 39 ,281 ,291 

Shelby, Isaac 310 ,313 ,314 

Shenandoah Valley Settle- 
ment 155 ,167 ,174 

Shires Created 131 

Shoshonean Tribe 28 

Sinclair, Chas 168 ,169 ,l74 

Sinking Creek. 208 ,209 ,262 

Massacre of . 281-284 

Sioux (Sioun) Indians ....24-27 

Territory of 25 

Gold in Black Hills 26 

Treaty with U. S 26 

Wars with U. S 26 

Escape into Canada... 26 

Return to U. S ... 26 

Ceded Land to U. S 26 

Reservation in South Dakota... 27 

Sitting Bull, Indian Chief 26 

Six Nations, The, 17-18,36,205, 

226-227 ,303 ,356 ,357 

Slavery Among Indians 59 

In Virginia Colony . 122 

Question 563-605 

Slaves, Fugitive 577 ,597 

Smith, Daniel, 258 ,275-278 ,283 , 

286 ,292 ,295 ,296 ,299 ,300 

Smith, Capt. John 51 ,101 ,106, 

108,109,114,118,120,229 
Trial ot 110 



Page 
Smith, Capt. John — 

Member of Council no 

Quarrel with Wingfield 112-113 

Letter to Royal Council 115 

Smith, Dr. John 352 

Smith, Col. Robert 630 

Smyth County 168 ,169^275^ 

^ , 277 ,292 ,294 

Snidow, Mrs 282 

Social Customs of Pioneers 520-522 

Somers, Sir George 102,117,118,120 

Southwest Virginia .-.36]257 ,280 

Description 30-31 

Wild Game 311 ,66,171-175,178 

Spain, Civilization ' 13 

Commerce of 13 

^ Title to New World 'ZZZ. 91 

Spanish Discoveries and Con- 
quests..... 73_84 

Spies in Revolutionary War.. 368 

Spottswood, Alexander. 146 147 

Expedition 148,149,151 155 

157,163,166,167,186,187 

Spottsylvania County ...147 ,158 

Stalnaker, Samuel... 174,218 

Stark, John _ _ "" 203 i346 

"The Starving Time"... 118 

"States Rights" 581 

Staunton, Va 174 ,179 

Staunton River, Branch of 173 

Stephens, Adam 196 ,304 

Stoner, Michael 263 J270 

Stuart, John, Negotiates Treaty 

with Cherokees.... 227 ,326 

Suffrage Qualification — 

In Kentucky County 363-364 

In Washington County.. .363-364 

In Montgomery County 363-364 

Susan Constant (Ship)....". 105 

Swift Run Gap 148 

Sycamore Shoals _ 379 



Tabb, John.. 351 

Tampa Bay, Fla... 81 

Taxation 126 ,136-137 ,139 ,144 ,147 

Taylor, Capt. James 367 

Taylor, Hancock 202 ,260 ,270 

Tavlor, Zachary 577 

Tazewell, John 353 

Tazewell County, Colonial 28-468 

Indians 28,53-57 

Scenery...... 30 

History of... 55 ,171 .293 

First Land Grant 171 

Exploration of 217 

First Military Expedition 220 

Pioneer Settlers 231-255 

First Forts 242-243 



698 



INDEX 



Page 
Tazewell County; Colonial — • 

In Revolutionary War. 247 

King's Mountain 358-375 

Equipment of Soldiers 380 

Clark Expedition. 372 

Formation of County .393-397 

Origin of Name 396 

Pioneer Families ...401-433 

Indian Massacres 434-468 

Tazewell County; Ante-Bellum 

Period... 471-560 

Organization 471 

First Court 471 

First Court House 473-475 

First Grand Jury..... 477 

First Tavern 478 

County Seat... 478 

Militia Organized 479 

Tavern Rates .481-482 

Second Court House 482-483 

Boimdaries.. 486-488 

Moimtains 488 

Streams 489-495 

Sections of Coimty. .496-516 

Character of People 517-529 

Social Customs 520-522 

Timber.... 527-529 

Artizans in 1850 529 

Census of 1850 .. 529 

Roads 530-536 

Population.... 536 539 

Wealth. 536-539 

Religion • ...540-542 

Education .542-546 

Civil Descent 547- 552 

Mineral Wealth 552-560 

Present Boundaries .552-556 

Tazewell County in Civil War. 606-654 
Number of Companies....607, 638-654 

Financial Losses 611 

Food ProductioiL 611 

Faithful Slaves 611 

Patriotic Women. 611-612,613 

Homespun Clothes 612-613 

Dyestuffs 613 

Raids by Enemy 613-631 

Reconstruction... 631-637 

County (Government 637 

Officers in Army 638 

Company A. 639 

Company G. 639 

Company H 639 

Company K 640 

Company C 642 

Tazewell Troopers 642 

Independent Partizan Rangers.. 643 

State Line Battalion 648 

Home Guard Co 648 650 

Union Home Guard 649-650 



Page 
Tazewell County in Civil War — 

List of Field Officers 651 

Falls Mills Soldiers 652-654 

Tazewell County] Post Bellum 

Period 657-672 

Slaves in Tazewell 657 

Population. 658 

Public Schools 658 

Real Estate ._ 658 

Railroads 659-663 

Minerals 660 

Coalftelds. 660-664 

Migration to Missouri 660 

Population in 1880, 1890, 1900, 

1910 666 

Towns 667 

Wealth in 1890, 1918 666-667,672 

Banks in Tazewell County....666-667 

Education 667-668 

Good Roads 669-671 

Magisterial Districts 669 

Bond Issue System 669 

Pauperism. 672 

Tazewell , Va 180-365 

Tecumseh 19 ,48-50 

Tennessee 81, 159, 167, 169, 215, 297, 332 

In Indian War 23 

Indians 43 

River. 363,372 

Tenskawatawa, Shawnee 

Prophet -18 

Texas 41,186,329,577 

Settlement of - 566 

Republic of 566 

Admitted a State.... 567-571 

Thames, Battle of, 1813 49 

"The Great Spirit" 66 

Thomas , Benjamin 459-60 

Thompson, Archibald 368,425 

Thompson, James ..257 ,258,274,285 

Thompson, Wm 170 

Thompson Family. 424-426 

Thompson Valley 293-319 

Thwartes and Kellogg (Dun- 

more's War) 260.263,286,310 

Ticonderoga, Fort 195,197,346,348 

Tippecanoe, Battle of, 1811 48 

Tobacco, Commercialized 121 

Clergymen's Salary 128 

I Currency 148-164 

>/Toland's Raid 613-622 

Toltecs 6-11 

Architecture, Cotton Grow- 
ing, Earthenware, Hierogly- 
phics, Laws, Maize Cultiva- 
tion, Migration of, Mining. 
Religion, Simdials. Weaving. 

Tories and Whigs 518-520 

Totopotomoi, Indian Chief 52 



INDEX 



699 



Page 
Town House, Chil- 

howie 272,274,275,293,294 

Trans Alleghanv Pioneers, 176,184,207 
Transylvania Co .261 ,332,333,361 ,362 

Travis, Champion 355 

Treaties — 

Cherokee Nation, 1730 32 

Cherokee Nation 228-229 

Cherokee Nation, 1775.. 330-333 

Chickasaws, 1786 2/i 

Chickasaws, 1855 22 

Comanclies 27 

Fort Stanwix 46,55 

Great Island, 1776 38-39 

Greenville, 1795 45 

Hard Labor 227 

Of 1835 40 

Of 1867 42 

With Indians, 1632 124 

With Indians. 1616... 133 

With Indians, 1785 39 

With Indians, 1790 19 

With Indians, 1791... 39 

With Indians, 1798 39 

Lochaber 36 , 46 , 228-229 

Ohio Indians 318 

Paris 187 

Seminoles 23 

Shawnees, 1795 47 

Six Nations. 35 , 226-227 

Utretch 193 

Virginia with Cherokees 33 

Trent, Commander of First Fort 

at Pittsburgh 189-190 

Tribal Government 58-59 

Trigg, Daniel .....185 ,258 

Trigg, Stephen 257,258,340,356 

Tug River, Origin of Name, 221, 

269,273,277,281,282,295 

Tulalip Reservation. 62 

Turgot, Jacques.. 202 

Tuscaroras 17-18 

U 

Ulster, Ireland, Settlers 156-158 

Manufactures, 1517. 161 

Underwood Constitution 635 

United States 327,329,373 

Utah, Territory of 577 

Utrecht, Treaty of 193 

V 

Valley of Virginia.. 38,304 

First Settlement in 160 

French Invasioa _ 196 

Settlers in 207 

Vance, Lieut. Samuel 312 

Vandalia _ 324,332,338 

Vanmeter, Isaac 160 



Page 

Vanmeter, John 160 

Vass' Fort 215 

Venango, French Fort at 188,189 

Verrazzano, John _ 85 

Vespucci, Amerigo 75-76 

Vigo, Francis 373 

Vincennes,Ind.48,186,370,372,373,374 

Vineland 73-74 

"Virgin Queen" 92 

Virginia 34-597 

Assembly 336,371 

Bill of Rights, 141,354,517,522-672 

Boundaries in 1607 116 

Claim to Western Territory 187 

Colony of 257 

Charter of 1606 61,62 

Constitution 355 

Convention of 1861 ...597-605 

Council, 1776 38-188-325 

Dominion of 259 

Government. 34,168,258,265,324 

History of 336 

Indians.... ...51-57 

Militia 208 

Origin of Name 9^ 

Province of. 328 

Under Commonwealth 134-135 

Virginia Long Hunters 1^6 

Virginia Marksmen. 374 

Virginia Royalists 133-134 

Virginia Territory Given to 

U. S., 1783... 45 

W 

Waddell (Historian) 159 

Walker, Dr. Thomas. Sur- 
veyor ...34,170,171 ,178,180,183,224 

Walker Expedition. 171-185 

Walpole Land Grant 358 

Walpole, Thornas .324,325,358 

Wanchese, Chief 95 

War of 1812 23,524 

Ward, David 286,287,288,314,379 

Ward, John 368 

Ward Family 410-411 

Warren, Col. Augustus.. 144 

Warren, Gen 344,347,348 

Warrosquyoak Shire 131 

Warrick River Shire 131 

Washington, Augustus 188 

Washington, George — 

At Fort DuQuesne 45 

Letter to Dinwiddie 197 

Washington, John 144 

Washington, Lawrence 188 

Washington County, Formed .262-365 
Watauga, Settlements 268,376,378,379 

Wayne, Gen. Anthony. 47 

Weapons of Pioneers 346-248 



700 



INDEX 



Page 

Wdath-erford (Indian Chief) 20 

Weaving by Pioneers 526~52iS 

Webb, Geo 355 

Webster, Daniel 41 

Weddings, Pioneer....... .248-253 

Werowocomoco, Indian 

Town 109 ,113 ,114 

West, Thomas (Lord Delaware) .. 116 

West Point. 143 

West Point, Va 52 

West Virginia ;173 ,178 ,181 

Western North Carolina 376 

Wetzel, .John... : 305 

Wetzet, Martin 305 

Weymouth, Capt. George. 101 

Wharton, Gen. G. C 660 

Wheeling, W. Va 265 

Whig Party, Formation of. 565 ,577 

Death of 579 

White Eyes. Capt. (Indian 

Chief) ' 304 

White, Gov. John 97 

White Top Mountain 329 

Whitley, Wm 464 

Whitten, Thos., Sr 287 

Whitten, Thos., Jr 287 

Wiley Family, Massacre of 460-461 

William and Mary College 151 

Williams, Gen. John S - 629 

Williams, Titus Vespasian 640 

Williamsburg, Va 108,140,141 , 

146 ,148-151 ,158 ,160 ,189 ,196 , 
206 ,236 ,271 ,323 ,349 ,356 ,361 ,370 

Wills Creek 206 

Winchester, Va 44 ,159 ,160 ,196 

Fort at 197 ,215 ,290 ,303 

Wingfield, Edward Maria 101 ,102 ,106 

Quarrel with Smith 112-113 

Winning of the West 176 

Wise County, Va 181 ,178 

Witchcraft, Indian 68 

Witcher's Creek Shoals 209 

Witten, James 254 ,368 

Witten (Whitten, Whitton) 

Jeremiah 288 



Page 
Witten, Thomas ...56 ,171 ,180 ,269 ,367 

Witten, Thos., Jr 379 

Witten, Col. Wilkinson 403 

Witten Family ...401-404 

Wives for the Colony. 122-123 

Wocoken, Island of (Roanoke).... 94 
Wolfe, James (English General) ... 197 

Captures Quebec. 198 

Wolf Creek.. 281 ,282 ,378 ,379 

Wolf Hill 300 

Wood, Maj. Abram 166 

Wood, Maj. Abram, Expedi- 
tion of. 166 

Wood's Gap. 166 

Wood's River. 166 ,173 

Wright, Michael 368 

Wyandot Indians. 17 ,199 ,200 ,205 

Wyatt, Sir Francis 125 

Wynne, Wm 269,289 ,367 

Wynne Family 429-432 

Wythe, Geo 371 

Wythe County 167 ,168 ,257 ,271 , 

278 ,377 

Formed 392 

Wythe County, Va., Lead Mines.. 35 
Wytheville, Battle of 617-620 



Xualan Indians 53-54 



Yeardley, Geo 121 ,130 

Yellow Creek 266,267 ,277 ,320 

Yellow Mountain 379-380 

York County, S. C... 382 

York County, Va 131 

York Peninsular. 138 

York River 109 ,146 ,351 

Yorktown 151 ,349 ,350 ,351 

Yucatan 77 

Yuman Indians 28 



Zinzindorf, Missionary in 1742 44 

Zuniga 103 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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